The Last Reunion
by tona234angel
Summary: Starts just before Dead Man's Blood and runs to the end of Everybody Loves a Clown. The 4 Winchesters are finally reunited, but at what price? Special apperances by Racheal and Bobby Singer. *COMPLETE*
1. Chapter 1

_Well, here it is. Sorry it took so long. My poor Beta was just overloaded so I said she should take her time. SciFiNutTX has her own stories to write to ya know. I owe her a big thanks as well as laceym for attempting to keep me sane. I won't be updating this as fast as I usually do because my husband decided I needed a real job. I hope to update at least every 3 days. Reviews are always welcomed and loved._

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_**Chapter 1**_

It was another quiet day at the Sunset Motel on a lazy September day. A fall chill had settled on the small Arkansas town of Marshall. Outside room twenty-eight sat an older model black Chevy truck with Kansas plates. Sitting in a chair next to the door of that room was a young girl, about twenty-four years old. She had dark blonde shoulder length hair, save for the two inches at the end that was a deep red, and hazel eyes. She stood about five foot eleven inches tall and had a very athletic build. She was wearing a black suede leather jacket, blue jeans with some rather large holes in the knees, a white tank top, a dark red button up shirt that she left open, and black steel toed boots.

The girl had her knees pulled up to her chest so her feet were on the edge of the chair and a laptop balanced on top of her knees. She wasn't typing, but what ever was happening on that screen had her full attention. Or at least, the person walking up to her left side thought the computer had her full attention. The girl suddenly closed the laptop and leaned over to her right to put it back in the bag that was sitting next to her chair. When the man got close enough, he reached out his hand to touch her shoulder. Before he could make actual contact with her, she sat upright and spun in the chair to face him. She had a knife in her hand and was pointing it toward the man's mid section.

"God damnit, John." Katie snapped as reached back down to her bag and stuffed the knife back into it, "How many times have I told you not to do that?"

John Winchester merely smiled at his daughter and held out one of the cups of coffee he carried. Katie took the cup from her father and then socked him in the stomach. John let out a gasp and then walked into the room.

"You know," Katie called into the room, "one of these days you're gonna get yourself killed doing that."

"Only if you stop looking for a face before you stab someone." John called back to her, "Besides, I think you're slipping a bit Katie girl cause I got a lot closer to you that time."

"Only because I let you. Now hurry up and take your damn shower. We can't stay here much longer."

John shrugged as Katie closed the door and then walked into the bathroom. He knew Katie was right. The demons had been chasing them relentlessly for months now, ever since Chicago. They had managed to cut down John's lead on them to a few hours and were getting closer. If it hadn't been for Katie, they probably would've had him long before the incident with the daevas.

In the peace and quiet of the shower, he let his thoughts wander to his sons. Sam and Dean had also been in Chicago. The demon responsible for his beloved Mary's death, as well as the death of Sam's girlfriend, had tried to use his sons as bait to kill him. It had nearly succeeded in killing them all. The quick thinking of his youngest had saved them.

As he got out of the shower, he went back over the exchange that had occurred between his family after they had gotten out of the building. He hadn't thought about it then, but before Dean had told him he couldn't go with them, the boy had looked over to his sister and she nodded to him. It was almost as if she was encouraging him to send his own father away, but he couldn't be sure. Dean and Katie always seemed to have their own language. A simple nod, or shake of the head, or even the briefest touch between them could carry a whole conversation and everyone else around them would have no idea what was gonna happen next until they did it.

The most important part of that conversation was what Dean had said to his sister. Dean had practically ordered his sister to stay with their father. Doing so had caused a bit of a problem, for John. He had been trying to figure out a way to ditch the girl for months, now he had no chance of that. Katie would stay on John's heels until Dean told her otherwise. Sometimes John wished the girl would follow his orders the way she did her brother's.

As he dressed and packed up what little he had brought into the room, he thought back to his daughter. The last few months had brought about a change in her. She seemed to be harder somehow. She had started to carry more weapons on her. When he had asked her about it, she told him "Better safe than sorry."

He was starting to worry that the constant threat of demon attacks were taking their toll on her, until the silent spells had started again. It was then that he realized the knowledge she carried about her younger brother was the cause. Not because she was afraid for Sam, but because she was afraid for Dean. If what they had learned was true, just being in the same room with Sam could prove to be more dangerous than standing face to face with three demons and no weapons of any kind.

The problem was that unlike the others they had found, Sam had not developed any psychic abilities; that he knew of. It was entirely possible that if he had, his sons were keeping that knowledge to themselves. It was even more likely that Dean had told Katie the second he found out about it and his daughter had issued a gag order. Protecting Dean was that girl's first priority and to her that meant sometimes she had to watch out for John and Sam. In this case, it meant protecting Sam from their father.

John had told her that if they couldn't find a way to save him, then one of them would have to kill Sam. Katie had made John swear then and there to never say anything to Dean and let her handle it. She was convinced that kind of knowledge would likely destroy Dean. John had reluctantly agreed. She knew Dean better than anyone, so he trusted her when it came to anything involving his oldest son.

John had finished his packing and was about to open the motel room door when he heard a loud thunk, like something hitting the side of his truck. He quickly opened the door to see his daughter lying unconscious by the front right tire. Above the tire was a dent in the fender about the size of Katie's head. A man, with blood dripping from his abdomen in what looked to be several places and cuts to his arms, was reaching down to grab her.

John immediately reached for the gun in his coat and fired three rounds into the side of the man's head. The man fell to the ground and John raced over to his fallen child. He checked to see that she still had a pulse and was about to pick her up when the man that who attacked her grabbed John and threw him back into the motel room. John landed almost in the middle of the room and then slid across the carpet until his head hit the wall next to the bathroom door. The last thing he remembered before everything went black was watching the obviously possessed man walk into the room and close the door.


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks to everyone for readong and to Ezraduke for her review. Also a special thanks to SciFiNutTX and laceym. Those 2 really do a good job or encourging me and correcting my screw ups._

_**Chapter 2**_

Katie woke up just as the motel room door clicked closed. Ignoring the extreme pain in her head she rose quickly, almost falling back down due to the wave of dizziness that hit her. She gripped the truck until her knuckles turned white and the dizziness passed, then she pulled one of her 9mils from the holster on her back under her shirts and charged the room. She shot out the lock on the door and then kicked it open.

John was lying in a heap next to the bathroom door, the demon moving toward him. Katie emptied her gun into the demon as she ran toward her father. The demon fell onto the floor as Katie ran past. She was nearly to John when she felt something grab her ankle. She fell to the floor and landed hard on her face, breaking her nose and hitting her head.

John came back to consciousness just as Katie landed and he started to recite an exorcism ritual. The demon was trying to stand when Katie rolled onto her back and landed a hard kick to its knee. She heard the kneecap shatter on impact and the demon fell forward again. She knew all she had to do was keep it busy until John could finish the exorcism.

Before the demon could try to stand again, Katie planted her feet under her and bounced herself into a standing position. She quickly grabbed the other gun from the holster at her back and began firing. Just as the last bullet entered the demon's body, it screamed and black smoke filled the room. It dissipated quickly. Ignoring the blood that was pouring from her nose, Katie turned to help her father up. They quickly grabbed their stuff, ran for the truck, and headed for the fastest route out of town.

"Are you alright?" John asked as they hit the highway.

Suddenly a series of gut wrenching cracking noises filled the cab of the truck as Katie straightened out her nose. John couldn't help but cringe at the sound, more out of surprise than anything else. Katie saw John looking at her from the corner of her eye as she pulled a blood stained shirt out of her bag and pressed it to her face in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

"I'm fine, John." Katie replied through the shirt, "What about you?"

"Just a little bump on the head."

It was the last thing Katie heard before slipping back into unconsciousness.

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John looked over at Katie again in time to see her slump against the door of the truck. Her eyes were closed and her breathing had become rather ragged in the space of a few minutes.

"Katie." John said. There was no answer.

"Katie, talk to me." Still no answer.

John pulled the truck over and then turned toward his daughter. He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. He knew right then that something was very wrong because she always woke up when his hand was two inches away from touching her. He shook her lightly and called out to her again, panic rising within him.

"Katherine Mary Winchester, you wake up right this second." John barked in his drill sergeant voice.

He let his hand linger on her shoulder a moment longer and that's when he noticed her shoulder felt wrong somehow. He shoved their bags onto the floor of the truck and scooted closer to her so he could remove her coat and over shirt. He did so very carefully in case there was more damage he couldn't see. Her shoulder was red and he could see it swelling bigger every second. He carefully replaced the jacket back onto her shoulder without putting her arm back in the sleeve.

He immediately pulled back onto the highway and headed for Leslie. The town was only about 15 minutes away and he hoped that there was at least a small clinic there so he could get Katie the medical attention she needed. He began to mentally berate himself. It was obvious by the bruises forming on her face and the probably dislocated shoulder that she had been fighting that thing for quite awhile before he'd heard her hit the truck. He was playing a list of other possible injuries his daughter may have when he pulled up to the clinic. Afraid of injuring her further, he simply left her in the truck and ran in.

"Help," John called out, "My daughter's been beaten."

A rather petite woman with red hair and blue eyes came running out from behind a curtain. She wore a nametag on her lab coat that said Doctor Marsden.

"Where is she?" The doctor asked.

"Out in my truck. I was afraid to move her." John replied.

The doctor ran over to where a wheel chair sat by the front door and then followed John out to his truck. Before John could open the passenger door, the doctor stopped him.

"Wait." Doctor Marsden called out., "She's leaning against that door. I'm gonna crawl in on the driver's side and pull her away from it. I'll wave at you when it's safe to open the door, then I want you to pick her up as carefully as you can and set her into the chair."

"Alright doc." John said.

A few minutes later they had Katie in the clinic and John was carefully lifting her onto an exam table at the doctor's instruction. A nurse came in a minute later. The woman was carrying her purse so John assumed that she had been on her lunch break, given the time. The nurse gently pushed John out of the way so she could help the doctor remove Katie's jacket and over shirt, but they didn't make John leave the exam room.

"Kina, I need you to get the portable x-ray in here now." Doctor Marsden said to the nurse.

The nurse ran out of the room as the doctor placed an oxygen mask over Katie's head. She then turned to John and started to ask questions.

"Did you see exactly what happened to her?"

"Not all of it. She was waiting for me outside my apartment." John replied, "We were packing up to leave the state because her boyfriend had been beating her. I was walking to the door when I heard a loud noise. When I opened the door she was lying by the tire of my truck and there was a dent where I think her head hit the truck. I ran over to her and the guy took off. She woke up a second later and climbed into the truck all by herself. We were just outside of town when she passed out."

"Ok, Mr… I'm sorry I didn't get your name."

"Winters. John Winters."

"Alright, Mr. Winters, I need to do a full exam on your daughter so I can determine the extent of her injuries. It would be easier if you waited out in the lobby, but I'll allow you to stay with her it that's what you want to do."

"It's ok, I'll go wait outside."

John walked out of the room just as the doctor started to cut Katie's tank top off. He couldn't bring himself to sit down in the chairs so he decided to pace the small waiting area, hoping to release some of his anxiety over his daughter's condition. He began mentally beating himself up again when he saw the nurse walk into the room pushing the portable x-ray machine. He couldn't believe he had dropped the ball like that and now Katie was paying the price.

An hour later, the doctor came out of the exam room. John immediately saw her and was standing in front of her before she could take two steps away from the door.

"How's she doing doc?" John asked quietly.

"Well, there was considerable bruising to her abdomen and chest, but no internal injuries. Her left shoulder has been dislocated and she has a moderate concussion. All in all she's very lucky. I do have one question for you." the doctor said.

"What's that?"

"Her nose was obviously broken during the exchange, did you fix that before bringing her in?"

"No," John replied, "She did that herself just before she passed out. She has a degree in emergency medicine and was a paramedic in San Francisco before she came back home."

"Impressive. Anyway, we've fixed her shoulder and hopefully she'll wake up soon. You may go in and sit with her now."

John let out a huge sigh of relief. Things weren't as bad as he'd made himself believe. He could only hope that Katie would wake up before the demons caught up with them again. He went back into the exam room and sat on a stool next to his daughter. She still had the oxygen mask on, but her breathing was normal. The doctor had covered her with a light blanket, tucked under Katie's arms.

It was only the second time she'd needed to be hospitalized while working with him. When the Wendigo thing happened he hadn't even known she was hurt. She had hidden her injuries from him and Dean. It wasn't till they ran into the rescue party that had been sent to search for them that she collapsed from the blood loss. When they had lifted the back of her shirt they found four gashes on her back and you could clearly see the back of a couple of her ribs in two of them.

He knew this wasn't as bad, but it still scared him. He just couldn't handle seeing any of his children in the hospital

"I'm so sorry, Katie girl." John whispered, "I shouldn't have let myself get distracted."

John watched Katie sleep for a few minutes and then lay his head down on the bed next to her arm. A minute later John was asleep himself.


	3. Chapter 3

_Here's chapter 3. Hope you all like it._

_**Chapter 3**_

It was annoying her. There was this strange hissing noise coming from some where by her head. She wanted to sleep a little longer. The pain in her head was nearly excruciating and that damn hissing noise was only making it worse. She knew she was gonna regret doing it, but she opened her eyes to try and find the source of the hissing.

She was surprised to find the room was dark save for a small light on a nearby desk. Discovering that the source of the noise was a full-face oxygen mask covering her face, she immediately went to remove it. She lifted up her right hand and in doing so, she brushed the top of her father's head. She lifted her head up slightly to look at him and saw that he was sound asleep. Slowly she lifted herself up onto her elbows and tried to wake him.

"John. John, wake up. We need to get out of here."

She watched him slowly open his eyes at her prodding. A second later he bolted himself into an upright position and called out for the doctor.

"Doc! Doctor Marsden! My daughter's awake." John called out.

A woman Katie didn't recognize came into the room while John was lifting the bed into an upright position. There was a scowl on the doctor's face as she watched John complete his task.

"John we need to get out of here." Katie said, a hint of distress climbing into her voice, "They could be on top of us already."

"Take it easy there, Katie girl." John said soothingly, "I want the doc to check you over one more time and then we can leave."

"I think," the doctor said in a disapproving tone, "that both of you need to slow down. Nothing is going to hurt you here. Miss Winters, you need to rest and from the looks of your father he could use a little of the same. I simply would like to keep you overnight for observation."

"Look," Katie snapped, "just get me whatever forms you have and I'll sign myself out AMA. We've been here too long already."

"Katie, I think the doctor's right here. We need to slow down or you're gonna end up killing yourself." John said.

"I'm fine." Katie growled as she turned to look at her father.

Her next words died in her throat at the expression on John's face. She never noticed until that moment how completely exhausted her father looked. There were huge dark circles under his eyes and his cheeks were sunk in. There were new worry lines on his face as well. She must have really scared him.

"Katie," John said quietly, "please. We've been here nearly eight hours already and no one's come after us. I think we'll be ok for a few more hours."

Katie just nodded. She knew there was no way she was going back to sleep, but it was painfully obvious that John needed it.

"Good." Doctor Marsden said, "Now if you'll excuse us for a moment Mr. Winters, I'd like to examine your daughter again to make sure there was nothing missed the first time. There's some dinner for both of you in the lounge if you'd like to go and bring it back."

Katie looked over to her father and nodded. She then swung her feet over the side of the bed so the doctor could begin her examination.

"Is that man really your father?" the doctor asked as soon as John was out of earshot.

"What kind of stupid question is that?" Katie said angrily, "Of course he's my father. You think I just made copies of his eyes and popped them into my own damn head for the fun of it?"

"I didn't mean to upset you." the doctor said, trying to soothe her irate patient, "I just wanted to make sure he didn't do this to you. Do you remember what happened?"

"Yeah, some guy hit me a couple times in the chest, grabbed my wrist, and then proceeded to swing me around in a circle like a rag doll. When he got tired of that he let go and I got flung into the side of my father's truck. I'm pretty sure there's a dent there that I'm gonna have to fix."

"How did you break your nose?"

"Guy went after John. I tripped him up, went to run past him so I could grab my father and get out of there. Guy came to, grabbed my ankle, and I fell flat on my face. Are we done with the inquisition now?"

"Is John the name of your boyfriend?"

"Nope, that's my father's name. I'm sure he told you that already."

Before the doctor could ask any more questions, Katie's phone began to ring in her coat pocket. She immediately jumped up and ran to where the jacket was hanging to answer it.

"Hello." Katie said.

"Hey Grace. How's things with you and the old man?" a male voice asked. Katie immediately recognized the voice.

"Caleb," Katie said cheerfully, "everything's ok here. What's going on with you?"

"Working as usual. Hey listen, is John around? I have something really important to tell him"

"He's a little busy at the moment. What's going on?"

"You ever hear of a hunter named Daniel Elkins?"

"Who hasn't? Steve Wandell trained with the guy for a while. Good ole Steve couldn't sing Elkins' praises loud enough."

"Yeah, a lot of good people learned from Elkins. I think your father was his favorite student though."

"John worked with him too? I never knew that."

"Yeah well I'm sure there's still quite a bit you don't know about your dad. Anyway, the reason I'm calling is that Elkins was killed in his home a few days ago. Looks like vampires finally got him."

"You've been watching too many movies."

"There really are vampires, Gracie girl. I just thought John would want to check this out himself."

"Ok, we'll get right on it."

"I'll let the others know to stay away then. Call me later and let me know what you find."

"I will. Thanks Caleb."

Katie turned back around to look at the doctor as she hung up her phone.

"Sorry doc, my father and I have to be getting back to work now. Looks like we'll be leaving after all."

"Miss Winters," Doctor Marsden said disapprovingly.

Katie held up a hand to silence the doctor.

"Would you go get my father please?" It was not a request.

"Fine, but you may want to put a shirt on first." the doctor said as she left the room.

Katie looked down at herself. She had been so intent on leaving before the demons caught up to her that she didn't even notice she was walking around the room in her bra and jeans. She reached up for her shirt and that's when she finally noticed the pain in her shoulder as well. She looked over, grimaced at the offending body part, and then proceeded to pull her shirt on as carefully as possible. She was just finishing up with the buttons when John walked into the room. He was carrying two plates of what looked like meatloaf.

"What's up kiddo?" John asked, "Doc says you got a phone call and now you're insisting we leave anyway."

"John," Katie said quietly, "It was Caleb on the phone. Daniel Elkins was killed a couple days ago. He said from the description that it sounded like he was killed by vampires."

John didn't say anything. He just set down the plates he had been carrying and walked over to Katie. He helped her put on a sling for her arm and then helped her with her coat. They were in the truck and on their way to Colorado two minutes later.


	4. Chapter 4

_Thanks again for reading. Special thanks to Ezraduke, fairyofmusic, and an anon reader for leaving me reviews. And of course I can't forget SciFiNutTX and laceym for playing betas for me. You really should read their stuff too._

_**Chapter 4**_

John didn't speak for nearly the entire fifteen-hour trip. He simply listened to Katie read the article she found on the internet and then ordered her to sleep. He was a little surprised that she slept almost the entire trip. She woke up about an hour before they arrived at Daniel's house. He didn't realize she was awake until she spoke.

"Are you ok, John?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." he replied.

"No, you're not. What's going on in that thick skull of yours?"

"Just thinking about Daniel."

"What happened with you two?"

"He tried to take your brothers."

"What do you mean?"

"He thought it was too dangerous for me and the boys, so he tried to give them to Social Services here in Colorado. He even made arrangements with them to make sure the boys went back to Kansas and you girls."

"How old were they when this happened?"

"Dean was six and Sammy was two."

"Then I'm glad it didn't happen. Dean never mentioned it to me. In fact, he's never even mentioned Elkins."

"Dean had just barely turned six. He didn't start writing to you until your birthday, 10 months later. I'm not entirely sure he remembers it."

Katie gave John a weird look, but she didn't say what he was expecting.

"Why did Elkins try to take the boys?" Katie asked.

"Daniel was the only person I told about you girls, until I took you from Kansas. He didn't think it was fair to split you kids up like that. He also thought I would just end up getting myself killed if I was on a hunt and thinking bout the boys. Nearly did happen a couple times in those first years." John replied.

"You didn't tell him everything, did you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't tell him that Laura and I were taken from you. You probably just told him you left us. Am I right?"

"Yeah. I don't think it would've made a difference though. He told me almost everyday that I needed to ship the boys back to Kansas. I almost did a couple times."

"I'm still glad you didn't. What Laura and I were put through, I don't think the boys could have survived it."

"You and your sister made it through ok."

"Yeah, because of Dean being on the outside and writing us letters. If he and Sam had been in there with us, I'm pretty sure we'd all be dead."

John nodded to her and then didn't say anything else until he stopped the truck a mile from Elkins' house.

"We're gonna walk in from here, if you think you're up to it."

"Takes more than a little demon bashing to slow me down." Katie said with a smile as she jumped out of the truck.

They walked in silence until they got to the edge of the tree line surrounding the house. Katie was about to walk out into the clearing when John grabbed her arm. He didn't say anything, just pointed toward the house. Katie looked up toward the windows and saw what could only have been flashlights moving around through the windows.

"Other hunters?" John whispered.

"No, Caleb was gonna make sure they knew we were on this." Katie whispered back.

Both hunters began to search the area outside the house. When Katie looked over to the driveway, she smiled.

"I know who's here." Katie whispered as she pointed over to the black Impala parked next to what must have been Daniel Elkins' truck.

"Well, that was the last thing I expected." John whispered back.

"So what do we do now?"

"We follow your brothers and see what they find."

"Why don't we just go in and help?"

"We need to make sure they aren't being followed first. We can't put them in danger if the demons catch up to us."

"Good thinking."

They watched from the cover of the trees until Sam and Dean got into the Impala and drove away. As soon as they were out of sight, John and Katie gave the house a quick once over to make sure the boys had covered their tracks and then headed back to the truck. They found the black car outside of a post office in town thirty minutes later.

"You stay here and keep a look out." John said to Katie as he parked the truck, "I'm gonna go talk to your brothers."

Katie watched her father head over to the car and then began scanning the streets around them to make sure no one else was watching. A strange feeling began to grow in the pit of her stomach. She had only talked to her brothers once since leaving them in Chicago. Sam had been rather irate with her and wanted to know how long she'd been riding with John. She simply said "A while" which was really no answer at all. She knew she was back to square one as far as her relationship with her little brother was concerned.

The worst part had been Dean. He didn't seem surprised by the answers, or lack there of, to Sam's questions. He did however sound, disappointed. They had never lied to each other about anything before and she had been doing nothing but for months. She had always told him exactly where she was, she just omitted John's name and replaced it with Bobby, Caleb, or Racheal. She could only hope that her relationship with her older brother wasn't completely destroyed over their father's attempt to protect his sons.

A few minutes later, she watched John get out of the Impala and head back to the truck. He was carrying what looked like a white envelope. As he got back into the truck, he handed her the letter.

"Read this." John said gruffly.

"Are the boys ok?" Katie asked.

"They're fine." John said as he started the truck.

Katie was buried in the letter John had handed her so she didn't see the expressions on her brothers' faces as she and John drove past them. After reading the entire letter, she looked up at her father.

"Well, this is certainly what we've been looking for." Katie said.

John simply nodded and continued to watch the road.

"So what, we get this gun from the vampires and then we ditch the boys again?" Katie asked.

"Nope. We get this gun and then you're gonna stay with your brothers." John replied.

"Not gonna happen." Katie said determinedly.

"It has to happen. They're gonna need you."

"No, I mean they aren't going to let you just walk away this time."

"That's why I'm counting on you to keep them occupied so I can finish this."

"You mean so you can get yourself killed. I'm not letting you do that to them. Face it John, you're stuck with all three of us now."

"You know what's at stake as far as Sam is concerned. I don't want him anywhere near that damn thing."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do to keep the boys away. You just remember your promise and keep your damn mouth shut about it. Where are we going anyway?"

John shook his head. He didn't like the way Katie talked to him sometimes, but at least she had agreed to do as he asked.

"Back to Elkins' house." John said in answer to her question, "I want you to take a better look and see if you can pick up a trail."

"I have a better idea. We need to find a motel. There isn't gonna be anything to find cause I'm pretty sure it's snowed up here since they got Elkins. You need sleep and so do the boys. I'm sure the vampires will resurface pretty quickly."

"I don't wanna wait that long."

"Too bad. You want me to keep the boys away while you commit suicide, you're gonna do what I say right now."


	5. Chapter 5

_Posting a couple days eary cause it's a friend's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIKKI!!! Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. As usual extra special thans to SciFiNutTX and laceym for putting up with me. I really am crazier than you all realize._

_**Chapter 5**_

John pulled into the first motel they found and told the boys they were grabbing some sleep. Dean and Katie walked into the room and sat next to each other on one of the beds.

"I thought we needed to get the gun back?" Sam asked as he walked past his father into the room.

"Yeah well, your sister is still pretty bashed up from a little incident that happened two days ago." John replied as he closed the door behind them, "She needs some rest."

"What happened anyway?" Dean said as he helped Katie take her coat off.

"Oh, not much." Katie said nonchalantly, "A demon decided he wanted to be a member of the Olympic Hammer Throw team and decided I would make a better hammer than that stupid metal ball on the end of a rope. I didn't fly as far as the metal ball would have though."

Sam got a quizzical look on his face. Dean looked at his sister with a smile, but there was nothing but concern in his eyes.

"Still put a nice dent in my truck with the back of your head." John said, trying not to laugh at Katie's description of what had happened in Arkansas and failing.

Sam and Dean looked at each other and shook their heads. They honestly didn't know how to react to the strange comments coming from their father and sister.

"Anyway," Katie said, "we have two beds in here so, which two of you three are sharing a bed?"

"Don't you sleep?" Sam asked Katie.

"Not unless I'm in a moving vehicle, given sedatives, or knocked unconscious." Katie replied.

"How bout Sam and I hit the beds and you and Dean can wake us up in a couple hours?" John asked.

"Sounds good to me." Dean and Katie replied at the same time.

John looked at his oldest children for a second. They hadn't been in the same room together for five minutes and were already saying the exact same thing at the same time. Dean and Katie looked from each other to John and just smiled. Sam just got that confused look back on his face.

"Do I get a say in this?" Sam asked.

"NO." Dean and Katie said together as they stood up so John could have the bed.

"Ok, that's just gonna get annoying." Sam said as he lay down on the other bed.

"Wait till they start doing that thing where they finish each others sentences in under a minute. Next thing you know they'll be out the door on a lead and we'll be standing here going 'What the hell just happened?'" John said to Sam as he lay on the bed Katie and Dean just vacated.

"We don't do that." Dean and Katie said defensively.

"Wait," John said through a yawn, "You've been away from each other for nearly three years. I'm sure you'll pick it back up in no time."

"Oh," Sam said, "looking forward to that."

Dean and Katie just looked at each other, then Dean grabbed Katie's coat off the bed as she made a motion with her head toward the door. As Katie opened the door to walk outside with Dean behind her, John suddenly sat up.

"Don't go to far you two." John said in his drill sergeant voice.

"Yes sir." Dean replied as he gently pushed Katie out the door before she could respond.

Dean put Katie's coat around her shoulders and then brother and sister got into the Impala. Dean stopped on his way past his dad's truck to look at the dent above the right front tire.

"You did that with your head?" Dean asked as they got into the car.

"I had help." Katie replied.

An uneasy silence settled over the car as Dean started it up.

"You wanna drive around a bit?" Dean asked.

"No!" Katie exclaimed, "I mean, we can just stay here and leave the car running for the heater."

Dean gave his sister a puzzled look. Normally she wanted nothing more than to get away from their dad. A lot must have happened since he had seen her last.

"Can you help me get this damn sling off?" Katie asked, "It's bugging the crap out of me."

Dean did as Katie asked, tossing the sling into the backseat after he'd gotten it off.

"So," Dean said, "How long have you really been running with dad?"

"Since just after the poltergeist thing in Lawrence." Katie replied.

"Why didn't you say that when Sam asked you after Chicago?"

"Cause it was him asking and not you. Guess I've gotten too used to lying to him over the years."

"Seems it's gotten easier for you to do the same with me."

The hurt look on Dean's face made Katie want to scream. She decided then and there that, except for the thing about Sam, she would never lie to Dean again.

"You know it killed me, but the old man said it was for your protection. We were getting attacked on a daily basis and after Chicago, it got worse. You know how I get when it comes to you." Katie said.

"Yeah, I know. I also know how you feel about dad, so thank you for taking care of him." Dean said.

"Things with me and John have actually gotten a little better since the last time you saw us together. I haven't taken a swing at him since about three months before you sent me to Stanford."

"How so?"

"I don't know. He doesn't try to play drill sergeant when it's just the two of us. He acts almost like a real person I guess."

"I noticed when he made that crack about the dent in his truck. If it had been me or Sam he wouldn't have said anything."

"I hate that he treats us so differently, but I understand it a little too."

"Yeah."

A tense silence filled the car. There was so much Katie needed to say to her brother, she just didn't know where to start. After a few minutes, she broke the silence.

"Hey Dean."

"Yeah." Dean said.

"I'm sorry I lied to you."

"I know. It's ok, Katie. You did what you had to for all of us."

"It's not ok. I never should've et him manipulate me like that."

"Katie, listen to me." Dean said sternly, "You told Sam you stayed away because you thought he and I needed time without you because we needed to get to know each other again. You were right. Don't you think you and dad needed the same thing?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Cause I lied to you. I owe you better than that."

"Just stop, ok. I understand, sis."

"Hey, Dean."

"Yeah, Brat."

"How did you know?"

"I didn't. I suspected after the way you disappeared in Nebraska. I just didn't know for sure until Chicago."

They spent the next four hours listening to the radio and just enjoying the fact that they were occupying the same space again. During that time, Dean managed to convince Katie to leave long enough to put gas in the car. As soon as they got back, she ran into the room to make sure everything was ok and then came back out to the car. When Katie caught Dean nodding off a few minutes later, she poked him in the ribs.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty." Katie teased, "Time to go wake up dad."

"Yeah, ok." Dean replied through a yawn.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They walked back into the motel and found John just getting up.

"You two have a nice chat?" John asked his eldest children.

Dean and Katie merely nodded. Dean lay down on the bed while Katie handed the police scanner she'd been carrying to John. Instead of digging out her laptop and plugging herself into it, she sat down on the right side of the bed next to Dean. That was when John noticed for the first time that Dean had made sure there was enough room on the bed for Katie to lie down next to him, and that's exactly what she did.

John simply shrugged his shoulders and then pulled out Katie's laptop. He started her search program to find the demon. After an hour of straining his eyes, trying to keep up with how fast the program moved, he started watching his children.

He looked over to Katie first and was met with a pleasant surprise. She was actually asleep. Not her usual on edge ready for anything sleep, but real sleep. There was absolutely no tension to her muscles at all. It was the first time John had ever seen her completely relaxed without sedatives. Including the two years she spent on the road with him and Dean.

Dean was next. The memory of nearly losing his oldest son was still fresh in his mind as well as the memories of the letters he had read, written by Dean to Katie and vice versa. Everything Dean had never said to John or Sam was written there. Every complaint the kid had was aired out to his sister and Katie had taken them all on. Even told him how to fix the problem if she could, but mostly just told Dean it was ok for him to feel the way he did.

Reading those letters had given John a whole new insight to his oldest. It made him respect the kid even more. It also made him realize exactly how much he had put on the boy's shoulders and there was also what Dean had taken on himself, without John's knowledge, regarding his sisters. Dean was obviously the strongest person John had the privilege to know.

Finally, John looked over his youngest son. Next to what had happened with his daughters, his handling of Sam was his biggest regret. Sam had never wanted to be a hunter, even as a kid. His first clue should have been when the kid wanted to play soccer instead of participate in training. Caleb had offered to take both boys during the school year and continue their training, but John was too stubborn. Now he felt that his youngest was lost to him, no matter how hard John tried to make it right between them.

Suddenly, John was brought out of his thoughts by an exchange between dispatch and an officer. The vampires had struck. John jumped up and put on his coat, then woke his children.

"Sam, Dean, Katie. Let's go." John said in his drill sergeant voice.

"Hmmm" Dean said as he rubbed his eyes.

"Picked up a police call." John said

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"Couple called 911 about a body in the street. Cops got there and everyone was missing. It's the vampires." John replied.

"How do you know?" Sam asked as he got off his bed.

"Just, follow me ok." John said irritatedly as he opened the door and walked out to his truck.

Sam followed John out the door. Katie and Dean turned to each other with a knowing look. The oldest and youngest of the Winchesters were starting their crap already.

"Humph, vampires." Dean said to no one in particular, "Gets funnier every time I hear it."

"I know the feeling." Katie said as she shrugged on her coat and headed out the door.


	6. Chapter 6

_Here's the big fight scene between John and Sam with my own little additions. I hope I didn't screw it up to bad. Thanks to everyone reading and to those that are awesome enough to leave me reviews. As usual thanks to my betas SciFiNutTX and laceym._

_**Chapter 6**_

A few minutes later, they were on the road. Katie kept tossing annoyed looks towards John.

"What's with you?" John asked.

"You can stop with the drill sergeant routine any time now." Katie replied in a slightly hostile tone.

"What do you mean?"

"This 'need to know' crap you think the boys need to run under. I went along with it five years ago because Dean did and I wasn't about to put him through what you and Sam did with all your stupid petty arguments. It won't kill you to answer Sam's questions and you definitely don't have to be an ass about it. They both deserve better from you."

"Katie, I know what you're worried about and things will be fine. Besides, I'm sure you know that Sam instigated a lot of the biggest fights up to and including when he left."

"You listen to me very carefully. I don't give a crap who started it before; I'm talking about right here and right now. The first time you and Sam get into a stupid fight and Dean ends up in the middle of it, I will not be responsible for my actions. He practically ran away once because of what you guys put him through and I'm not about to let it start again."

"I promise, Katie." John said, trying to pacify his very irate daughter, "I won't fight with Sam."

"Thank you."

It was just after sunrise that they found the police cruisers parked in the middle of the road. The three male Winchesters got out of the vehicles to discuss their next move. Katie simply climbed up onto the truck, ignoring the pain in her left shoulder, and stretched out with her back against the windshield. No way was she gonna go through an explanation to a bunch of cops about her swollen nose and matching black eyes.

She looked over to the men of her family when she heard her younger brother's sigh of frustration and shot her father another annoyed look. John simply shook his head toward his daughter and then headed over to talk to the cops. She managed to catch Dean's "what was that about?" look and shook her head. She thought about calling Sam over and giving him the same lecture she had given John, but changed her mind. Things were unsteady between Katie and Sam as it was.

After a few minutes, Sam and Dean got into a conversation and though she tried to ignore it, not hearing what Sam had said at all, the tone of Dean's voice had her full attention.

"Oh, don't tell me it's already starting?" Dean questioned Sam.

"What's starting?" Sam asked in a puzzled tone.

Dean looked up to Katie for a minute and she slid off the hood of the truck and walked over to her brothers. She saw John walking toward them and knew she had to be a part of this conversation. Dean watched her until she nodded her head toward John and then he turned around to face their father.

"What ya got?" Dean asked John.

"It was them alright." John replied, "looks like they're heading west. We're gonna have to double back to get around that detour."

"How can you be so sure?" Sam asked.

"Sam," Dean interrupted.

"I just wanna know we're going in the right direction." Sam said in Dean's direction.

"We are." John replied in answer to Sam's question.

"How do ya know?" Sam asked.

Katie was really considering smacking her little brother at this point. The kid really was pushing for a fight. She was about to say something herself when John reached down and pulled something out of his pocket.

"I found this." John said, handing something small and white to Dean.

"It's a…vampire fang." Dean said with a touch of awe to his voice

"No fangs, teeth." John said, "A second set descends when they attack. Anymore questions?" The last part was clearly directed at Sam.

Katie noticed that Sam wouldn't even look at their dad. She shook her head at her younger brother's behavior and then started to walk back toward the truck.

"Alright, let's get outta here, we're losing daylight." John said as he headed for the truck, "Hey Dean, why don't you touch up your car, before you get rust? I wouldn't have given you the damn thing if I thought you were gonna ruin it."

Katie stood there with the passenger door open and watched her older brother shift in his skin.

"That was completely unnecessary." Katie snapped at John, making sure her brothers heard her, "If it weren't for me reminding you to do things, or doing them myself, this truck would have fallen apart around us months ago."

John was already inside the truck and staring at Katie. She stared right back at him for a few seconds before she got in. They were back on the road before John said anything else.

"Did you bring your computer?"

"Of course." Katie answered.

"Can you get a connection out here?"

"Uh, give me a minute to look."

Katie opened up her laptop and waited to see if she had an internet connection. Surprisingly enough, she had a pretty strong signal.

"Well, what do ya know?" Katie said with amusement in her voice, "I got one. What do you want me to look for?"

"Check for any abandoned farms west of us, especially those that the cops have had to check out several times for disturbances. The vampires are most likely going to be there."

"I'm on it."

They drove late into the night while Katie searched the internet. She didn't find anything under John's search parameters, so she expanded them. It was nearly midnight by the time she found something.

"I think I've got it." She said.

"Where?" John asked.

"Take the next exit. It's about another 6 hour drive from there."

"Good work, I'll call your brothers."

"You better call Dean's cell. Sam's just gonna ask questions you don't have answers to."

John dialed his phone while Katie closed her computer and put it back into her bag.

"Dean. Take the next exit" John said into his phone and then hung up.

"Well, that was shorter than I thought it would be." Katie said.

"That's because….."

John stopped mid sentence because suddenly the Impala went racing past the truck. Both Katie and John watched as it swerved to a stop in the middle of the road. John had to slam on the brakes and swerve to the left to keep from plowing into it. A cry of pain escaped from Katie as she jarred her injured shoulder against the seat.

"John, stop it." Katie called as her father climbed out of the truck and marched angrily over to Sam.

She waited until Dean walked around the back of the Impala before she got out of the truck to stand behind him, missing the first part of the conversation between her father and younger brother.

"Where we going dad?" Sam asked his voice full of anger, "What's the big deal about this gun?"

"Sammy, come on," Dean said, a touch of anger in his own voice, "we can Q & A later. After we kill all the vampires."

"Your brother's right," John said, "we don't have time for this."

Even Katie could see that Sam wasn't about to back down. She reached up and grabbed the bottom of Dean's jacket to let him know she was there.

"Last time we saw you, you said it was too dangerous for us to be together. Now, outta the blue you need our help. Now obviously something big is going down and we wanna know what."

"Get back in the car" John said, his voice too low for Katie's liking.

"No." Sam yelled back.

"I said get back in the damn car." John was moving toward Sam as he said it.

"Yeah, and I said "No'" Sam replied.

"Alright," Dean said. He'd felt Katie shift toward their dad and wanted to stop things before they really got out of hand. "you made your point now tough guy. Look, we're all tired we can talk about this later. Now Sammy I mean it, come on."

Katie had started to follow her older brother's example and headed back to the truck when a comment Sam said under his breath made everyone stop.

"This is why I left in the first place."

"What'd you say?" John asked, moving toward Sam again.

Katie and Dean turned to look at each other as Sam moved back toward their father.

"You heard me." Sam replied.

"Yeah," John said, "you left. Your brother and me, we needed you. You walked away Sam, you walked away."

"Stop it, both of you." Dean and Katie said together. Their statement went unheard by the other two Winchesters.

"You're the one that said don't come back dad. You're the one that closed that door not me. You were just pissed off, you couldn't control me anymore."

As the oldest and youngest Winchesters grabbed each other, Dean jumped in between them. That was all it took for Katie. She grabbed John as Dean pushed Sam backwards and pushed her father as hard as she could. John hit his truck with a satisfying, at least satisfying to her, thud. Sam and Dean looked from their father to their sister with total shock. Sam had never seen his father manhandled like that before and Dean had hoped to never see it from Katie again.

"I have had enough!" Katie yelled, looking between her father and younger brother, "I am sick and tired of you two putting Dean in the middle of your stupid, petty bullshit!"  
"What would you know about it?" Sam asked Katie, his anger being redirected toward her.

Katie narrowed her eyes to slits while looking at Sam before she continued.

"A hell of a lot more than you think I do, Sam. Now, if you two wanna stand here in the middle of the road and kill each other, be my guest. Just give me the keys to the truck and Dean the keys to his car and we'll go finish the damn job by ourselves."

John looked like he was about to say something but stopped when Katie's head snapped back toward him.

"Don't give me that 'I don't think so' look, _dad_. You know Dean and I don't need you, or him, to finish this job and we could probably get it done a hell of a lot faster without the two of you _slowing_ us down."

John looked at his sons and then his daughter before looking down at his feet. He could hear the words Katie wasn't saying to him. He had broken his promise and he was lucky she hadn't punched him out, but he was also hiding a smile. She had finally called him "dad."

Katie looked at the faces of her father and younger brother until both of them dropped their eyes. She wanted her words to sink in real good.

"Now what's it gonna be?" She finally asked them.

After another tense silence that lasted several minutes, John turned around and got back into the truck. Sam followed John's example. That left Dean looking at the ground and Katie watching her older brother.

"Dean," Katie said just loud enough to get him to look at her, but soft enough that Sam couldn't hear through the open window of the car.

Dean looked up at his sister and shook his head.

"I'm sorry." Katie said as she walked closer to him.

"Not your fault," Dean said as he put his hand on her good shoulder and squeezed lightly. It was his way of saying 'thank you, for standing up for me'. "Let's get this job done."

Katie nodded and then the two of them got back into their respective places in the vehicles. It took an hour before John could say anything to his daughter.

"Katie, I'm sorry."

"I know." Katie said curtly.

"It's just…"  
"Old habits die hard." Katie interrupted, "I should have given him the same lecture I gave you. Just don't break your promise about not saying anything to Dean and I'll drop it."

"Fair enough." John said with a hint of a smile on his face, "So, I guess I'm 'dad' now?"

"Yeah, guess so. You need to tell them about the gun, Dad. At least as a peace offering to Sam if for no other reason."  
"I will. Let's worry about getting it back first."

Katie pulled her laptop back out and then smiled to herself. Even in her burst of anger, it had felt good to finally say the one thing to her father that she hadn't been able to in nearly thirteen years.


	7. Chapter 7

_Thanks for all the awesome reviews. For those of you that are reading my stuff as well as SciFiNutTX: Wendy will be gone for a bit due to a death in her family. I'm sure you're all gona miss her as much as I do. My prayers are with you Wendy._

_**Chapter 7**_

It was sunrise when they finally got to the abandoned barn. Just before she opened the door to get out of the truck, John grabbed her arm making her wince a bit.

"I want you to stay back." John said sternly, "You're not a hundred percent and I don't want you hurt worse. Your brothers and I can handle this."

"Dad, I…." Katie started, but John interrupted her.

"No, Katie. We need some one to hang back anyway, in case we get into trouble. You can get us out."

"Ok. But you tell them about the colt now or I will."

They stared at each other for a minute and then John finally nodded. Katie got out of the truck and then climbed up onto the hood. The truth was she would rather play back up anyway. She just felt more comfortable in that role.

Katie watched her younger brother carefully as he got out of the car. She was looking for signs that he was gonna restart the argument from earlier that night. Thankfully, he was keeping his mouth shut.

"Follow me." John said to his boys.

John walked off into the woods with Sam close behind him. Dean hung back for a second, but followed John and Sam when Katie nodded her head in their direction. She watched them walk into the long grass and then duck down. She was guessing from their actions that she had found the right place. She did her usual check of the immediate area from her perch and then watched her father and brothers walk back to the vehicles.

"Right place?" she asked.

"Yeah, nice work." John said.

"You found this place?" Sam asked with a somewhat surprised look on his face.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised what you can find with a computer and a good internet connection." Katie replied, "Course when your little brother is a bit of a hacker you pick up a few things."

Sam looked a bit embarrassed at Katie's last statement. Dean looked from Sam to Katie and rolled his eyes, then walked to the back of his car and opened the trunk. Sam was right there as he grabbed the machetes out of the trunk. John walked to the back of his truck, dropped the tailgate, and pushed a button. The weapons box opened on it's own and John was checking his own blade when Dean spoke.

"Hey dad, I got an extra machete if you need one." Dean looked over at John as he spoke.

"I think I'm good, thanks." John said.

"Wow." Dean said in surprise, then he looked at Katie, "Set Dad up good this time didn't ya?"

"That's cause Dad lets me play with stuff, unlike a certain big brother I know." Katie said teasingly.

"You are _so_ not messing with my car." Dean said.

"See, that's why you don't get the cool toys." Katie said.

Dean grabbed the first thing he could find, which happened to be a small boot knife, and flung it at Katie. She caught it by the handle just before it could sail past her head.

"Jesus Christ, Dean." Sam yelled, "You could've killed her or something."

"He'd have to use a bigger knife." Katie said as she slid off the truck, walked over to her brothers, and tossed the knife back into the trunk of the Impala. There was a few minutes of silence as the male Winchesters got ready to enter the vampire nest. A sigh escaped John and Katie immediately turned around to look at him.

"So, you boys really wanna know about this gun?" John asked his sons.

Katie looked at John for a second and then walked back toward the front of the truck. Sam and Dean looked at each other for a second and then Sam answered, "Yes, sir" while Katie climbed back onto the hood of the truck and stretched out. Dean gave her a look that said 'Don't you need to hear this too?' Katie shook her head and then stared out toward the barn.

"It's just a story, a legend really. Well, I thought it was. I never really believed it until I read Daniel's letter. Back in 1835 and Haley's Comet was overhead, same night those men died at the Alamo. They say Samuel Colt made a gun, a special gun. He made for a hunter, a man like us only on horseback. The story goes, he made thirteen bullets. This hunter, used the gun about a half dozen times before he disappeared, the gun along with him. Till some how Daniel got his hands on it. They say, they say this gun can kill anything."

"Kill anything, like supernatural anything?" Dean asked.

"Like the demon." Sam said.

"Yeah, the demon. Ever since I picked up its trail I been looking for a way to destroy that thing. Find the gun, we may have it." John said. "Now come on, we don't have a lot of time."

"Just wait a minute." Katie said.

"What, why?" John asked his daughter.

A few seconds later, they heard another car approaching their location. The Winchester men jumped into action, readying their guns.

"Would you three relax?" Katie said, "It's just Racheal."

Katie swung her legs over so they were hanging off the side of John's truck as the '77 Camero pulled in to park next to the Impala.

"What are you doing here?" John asked Racheal.

"Grace called, said she wanted my help." Racheal replied.

"I think we've got everything under control." Dean said.

"Yeah, looking at her face I can tell." Racheal said pointing to Katie.

"It was just a minor disagreement with a demon in Arkansas, Rache." Katie said with a shrug of her shoulders, "The old man and I took care of it."

"Well," Racheal said, "at least it was only one this time."

"Listen, not that we don't appreciate it, but I think the four of us can handle things." John said.

"This concerns her as much as it does us," Katie said to John sternly. "What happens if the demons catch on to what we're doing? Even with Sam and Dean here I don't think we could handle a nest of vampires and demons at the same time."

"Fine," John said, "but I want you girls to…"

"Stay here and cover your ass." Katie finished.

"Alright, let's go boys." John said as he headed off toward the trees.

Katie and Racheal watched them walk away. Then walked round to the Camero and got what they thought they might need out of the trunk.

"So," Racheal said as soon as the guys were out of earshot, "how much longer do we wait before following them down?"

"I figure another minute or so," Katie replied. "Give them a chance to get inside at least and then we'll go. I figure Dad will head out the back and the boys'll come out the front doors."

"So I'm going to the front?"

"Nope, my shoulder's busted up. Dad'll be by himself so you stand a better chance of bailing him out. The boys'll stay together so it won't take as much to rescue them if necessary. You go to the back and wait for my dad, I'll wait for the boys out front."

"What happens if they get in and out no problem?"

"Dad knows how I do things and so does Dean. They'll be expecting us to be right outside waiting for them."

The girls waited another minute and then headed for the barn as quickly as possible. Katie watched her friend walk around back and then went to take her position by the front doors. She had just gotten to her position when a rather loud and strange sounding scream came from inside. Katie immediately pulled open the front doors a split second before her brothers came running out.

"DAD!!!" Dean yelled as he turned around.

Katie grabbed her older brother's jacket with her left hand and pulled him away from the barn. Dean jerked out of her grasp causing her to wince and turned on her.

"We can't leave Dad," he yelled at her.

"Racheal's got him," Katie said as she reached for her brother again. "They're coming out the back, now come on."

Sam chose that moment to walk up behind Dean and push him toward the cars. Dean looked back one more time and then took off. The three of them ran all the way back to the cars. Once they got there, Dean started yelling for John again.

"Dad! Dad!"

"Racheal!" Katie called out.

Sam just stared out in the direction they had just come from. Dean and Katie were about to take off back the way they had come when John and Racheal came crashing through the trees. John stopped in front of his kids while they turned to get into the cars.

"They won't follow." John said as he tried to catch his breath, "They'll wait till tonight. Once a vampire has your scent, it's for life."

"So what the hell do we do now?" Dean asked.

"You gotta find the nearest funeral home, that's what." John replied.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Ah, I get it." Racheal said.

"Good you go with him." John ordered Racheal.

"I am not one of your sons," Racheal snapped. "You don't give me orders, John Winchester."

"Racheal," Katie said in her 'nice' voice before John could say something, "would you please go with Dean and fill him in on why you're going to a funeral home?"

"Sure sis," Racheal said, "but only because you _asked_ me."

"Thank you." Katie said as Racheal tossed her the keys to the Camero.

Racheal walked around to the passenger side of the Impala and was about to get in when Katie tossed the keys for her car over to Sam.

"Wait a minute." Racheal said, "You're gonna let him drive my car?"

"Yeah," Katie replied, "What's wrong with that?"

"Have you forgotten what happened to his Trans Am and the '79?" Racheal asked.

"Hey, it wasn't his fault that some idiots were drag racing in front of our apartment building," Katie said as she headed for the passenger side of John's truck. "We could just leave it here."

"Yeah, I'll shut up now."

Sam looked from his sister to her friend and was about to hand the keys back to Katie when she motioned him toward the car and got into John's truck. Racheal then ducked into the Impala and drove away with Dean.

"Follow us back to the motel," John said. "Ok, Sam?"

"Yeah, got it." Sam replied.


	8. Chapter 8

_This chapter is mostly to explain a few things and fill in a hole. Thanks to Ezraduke and NikkiEvans for their reviews. Special thanks to laceym and SciFiNutTX for their attempt to keep some measure of sanity in my messed up head._

_**Chapter 8**_

The Impala was quiet except for Racheal talking on her cell phone. She was trying to locate the closest funeral home in Manning. When she finally located one, they had another two hours of driving to do.

"So," Dean said, "you gonna fill me in on what we're going to a funeral home to get?"

"Dead man's blood." Racheal replied, "If it gets in a vampire's blood stream it acts like a poison. Incapacitates them, but it usually only lasts an hour or so, depending on how much gets into their system."

Silence filled the car again. Dean was dying to ask Racheal something else and she knew it. She was pretty sure she knew what it was he wanted to ask her too.

"Dean, just ask the question." Racheal said with a sigh.

"What? What question?" Dean asked.

"You wanna know if I have any psychic abilities like your brother." Racheal said, "The answer is yes and no."

"What do you mean?"

"Yes, I have abilities. No, they aren't like your brother's. I wasn't bound to the demon like he was."

"Katie told you about the spell?"

"Daisy did. Grace didn't remember that part at first."

"So why are you different? Why weren't you bound to the damn thing like Sam and the others?"

"It missed me."

"Missed you?"

"Yeah. Dad has always been a hunter. His entire family has been for generations. He recognized the signs and got me out of the house before it could get to me. Dad said that my mom and brother were just coming down the stairs, heading for the front door, when the door slammed shut. He had just handed me to his brother when the fire started. Dad tried, but he couldn't get the door open. The house burned to the ground with my mom and older brother inside."

"I'm sorry." Dean said quietly.

"Not your fault." Racheal said, "It happened about 2 months before it went after your family."

"So what exactly can you do?" Dean asked."

"I don't have visions like Sam, but I can do all kinds of other stuff. My strongest ability is a weird form of telepathy. I can link two people together so they can read each others thoughts, or in your case once, I bonded Katie to you to heal you when the doctors said you were dying. That's why she slept so much after you got out of the hospital in St. Louis."

"Why did you do that?" Dean said angrily, "You could have killed her."

"She asked me to. She said it was either save you or she was gonna go out with you. I didn't think it was gonna work at all, but it did. I haven't been able to do that trick with anyone else though. I think the only reason it worked that time was because the bond between you two was so strong already."

"Why do I get the feeling there was some kind of side effect?"

"There was. You know how sometimes it seems like you and Katie are reading each others minds?"

"Ye-ah." Dean said tentatively.

"Sometimes, you really are." Racheal said, "It seems the more stress applied to you two, the more it happens. Also comes out the more you are together or when one of you is really drunk."

"Well, that explains a few things."

"That's what Grace said."

"How long have you been able to do this kind of thing?" Dean asked.

"Almost for as long as I can remember. Like I said, it missed me, so I wasn't bonded to it." Racheal replied.

"Did she tell you bout the spoon bender thing and Max Miller?"

"Yeah, that wasn't Sam that moved that cabinet by the way. I was outside the house. Katie thought you two needed some help, but she couldn't leave your dad. I had just gotten there when that Max guy locked Sam up."

"I owe you a thank you then. You saved my life."

"You're welcome." Racheal smiled, "You know, you're taking this really well. When your dad found out he freaked."

"My dad knows what you can do?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, he found out back in St. Louis. He heard Grace and I talking about how we were gonna save you. He freaked that no one told him about me before then he freaked because of what we were gonna try." Racheal said.

"He was probably afraid of losing Katie right along with me."

"Yeah, what he didn't quite realize at the time was that if you had died, Katie would've shut down. Or worse, she would've gone off and gotten herself killed on the first hunt she found so he would have lost her anyway."

They were quiet the rest of the way to the funeral home. It was closed when they got there.

"Well," Dean said, "so much for doing this the easy way. Guess we'll have to break in."  
"No worries, the security system looks pretty old." Racheal said with a smile.

It took them a bit longer than planned because of additional security inside the funeral parlor, but they got what they needed and headed back to the motel. Dean walked in and waited for Racheal to walk past before he closed the door.

"Whew, awful lot of security to protect a bunch of dead guys." Dean said as he walked over to the desk where his father and brother were sitting. Katie was sitting on one of the beds with her computer resting on her feet and headphones in her ears.

"Did you get it?" John asked.

Dean took a jar out of his coat pocket and handed it to John while Racheal and Katie dug into the duffel bags sitting next to the bed and each pulled out a handful of wooden crossbow bolts. John looked from the jar of blood in his hands to his sons.

"You know what to do?" John said as he set the jar on the table.

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John went back to his notes while the other four hunters went to work on their project. After a few minutes, he looked up and began to watch them. What he saw rather amazed him. Despite the tension between Sam and Katie, the four younger hunters were laughing and joking with each other. For a second he thought of Racheal as Laura and wondered if this is what things would have been like had he taken his girls when he had the chance.

A small, sad smile crept over his face and it took him a second to realize that Katie and Dean were watching him. Dean had a slightly puzzled expression on his face. When John looked over to Katie, she simply nodded at him like she knew exactly what he was thinking. Katie bowed her head down to go back to her work and Dean stood and walked over to the table.

"What's up dad?" Dean said quietly.

"Just thinking." John replied.

"About Laura?"

"How did you know that?"

"The look on your face."

"Just how long have you been able to do that?" John asked.

"Do what?" Dean said innocently."

"How long have you been able to read me like that?"

"Since always."

"You sure Katie didn't give you a few tips?"

A brilliant smile lit up Dean's face as he shook his head.

"Nope." Dean replied. "I gave her the pointers a few weeks after we picked her up in San Francisco."

"You know," John said with a smile, "you and your sister completely baffle me sometimes."

"Yeah," Dean said as he smiled again, "it's kinda fun too."

"So what's the plan from here Dad?" Sam said.

John looked up at his youngest son, who was watching him intently, and saw the two girls watching him as well.

"Well," John began, "after dark, one of us is gonna have to play bait while the others wait in the surrounding trees with the crossbows."

"I'll do it." Katie, Sam, and Dean said at the same time.

John watched as his children looked at each other and then they began to argue about who was gonna be the bait. John watched, trying not to laugh.

"I'm the oldest, which makes this my job." Dean said.

"That argument never works and you know it." Katie said to Dean. "I'll do it."  
"No way," Sam and Dean said together.

"You're hurt." Sam added.

"Exactly." Katie said to her brothers. "They won't see me as a threat."  
"It's not gonna happen." Dean said. "Dad, help me out here."

"Nope." John said. "This is between you kids."

A loud piercing whistle suddenly filled the room. All four Winchesters cringed and then looked over at Racheal.

"Don't do that." Dean and Katie said together.

"Katie, you still using iron rounds?" Racheal asked, ignoring the previous comment.

"Yeah," Katie replied, "why?"

"Can I have one?" Racheal asked.

"You want one of my guns?" Katie asked.

"No, just one of the rounds." Racheal replied.

Katie lifted up her shirts and Dean saw both the guns his sister kept on her back.

"Wow." Dean said. "When did you start carrying those?"

"About three weeks after the thing in Lawrence." Katie replied as she ejected the clip and handed one of the bullets to Racheal. Katie then reloaded her gun and put it back into the holster.

"Now," Racheal said, "I have the perfect way to solve this argument."

Racheal held up four bullets. Three of them were silver and the fourth was the iron one that Katie had just handed her.

"I'm assuming that you three aren't going to let your father play bait." Racheal said as she locked eyes with John.

"You got that right." Dean, Sam, and Katie said together.

"That's what I thought." Racheal said as she walked over to the kitchenette and grabbed a bowl. "John, would you go stand up on one of the beds please?"

"Ok, but why?" John said as he did what Racheal asked.

"Cause your youngest is too damn tall." Racheal said as she smiled at Sam.

The Winchesters watched as Racheal dropped the bullets into the bowl and then handed it up to John on the bed.

"This is real simple. Who ever draws the iron round gets to be the bait and no trying to guess which one is the iron one. We all know it's gonna be a bit heavier. Just reach in and grab one. No looking till everyone has got theirs either" Racheal said.

"This is so stupid." Dean mumbled.

"I think it's kinda funny." Katie said.

"I'm with Katie on this one." Sam said with a small laugh.

The four younger hunters each took a turn and in the end, Dean pulled the iron round. Twenty minutes later the five hunters were on the road, looking for the perfect spot to stage their little trap.


	9. Chapter 9

_Thanks to NikkiEvans and Ezraduke for their reviews. I would also like to thank everyone for reading this. Of course we can't forget SciFiNutTX and laceym for playing betas and attempting to keep me sane. Too bad it didn't work to good as my new tattoo clearly shows._

_**Chapter 9**_

"I don't like this. I don't like this. I don't like this." Katie whispered to herself.

"He'll be alright." Racheal said. "We've got him completely covered."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it." Katie replied.

The two girls were across the road from the Impala and about five feet into the woods. The hood was up on the car and Dean was fiddling around beneath it. John and Sam were positioned somewhere on the other side of the car where Katie couldn't see them. The plan was for Dean to pretend the car was broke down and lure the vampires to him. John was hoping to catch either the leader or his girlfriend. It would be easier to trade the gun for one of them.

What no one else knew was the rest of the plan that John and Katie had come up with. John planned to make the trade on his own while he sent Racheal and his kids to clean out the nest. Both Katie and John hoped that there would be enough to do back at the barn to keep the boys distracted long enough for John to get away. He was gonna drive for a day and then use the summoning spell that Katie had taught him to trap and kill the demon. Katie hated this plan, but it was what her father wanted and it would keep her brothers out of harm's way.

Katie watched her older brother carefully. He was so busy pretending there was something wrong with his "baby" that he didn't notice the man and woman sneaking up behind him. She was about to bolt out of her hiding spot when Racheal grabbed her arm.

"Wait for the signal." Racheal hissed into Katie's ear.

Katie watched as the woman backhanded Dean across the face, knocking him to the ground. Racheal had to grab Katie's arm again to keep her still. The woman then picked Dean up by his jaw and planted a hard kiss to his lips. A small light flashed from the other side of the car just before an arrow pierced through the large man's body. Katie ran for her brother as soon as she saw the flash. A second arrow pierced the heart of the vampire woman just as Katie reached her brother's side.

"Damnit." the woman said as she turned to face John and Sam coming out of the woods.

Sam immediately walked over to the vampire man and pulled his machete. Racheal was already there sword raised to cut the thing's head off.

"Barely even stings." the lady vampire said to John.

"Give it time sweetheart." John said. "Arrow's soaked in dead man's blood. It's like poison to you isn't it?"

The vampire slowly collapsed right into Dean's arms. Dean put an arm under her legs and picked her up.

"Load her up." John said as he turned to the other vampire. "I'll take care of this one."

Katie nodded to Racheal and then followed Dean over to their dad's truck. She helped him put the vampire chick into the truck and then waited for John. They drove around for about an hour with the Impala and Camero behind them. Katie was still going over the details of the plan when John pulled off the road.

"What's going on?" Katie asked her father.

"If we keep driving around like this, they'll find us before we're ready." John replied as he got out of the truck. "You wanna take our friend here and tie her to a tree?"

"Sure, no problem." Katie said to John. "Racheal, would you come help me with her?"

"No problem, sis." Racheal replied.

The two girls made quick work of their task and then climbed up onto the hood of Racheal's Camero. Katie was just enjoying the peaceful feeling she got whenever she was in the woods when Racheal spoke.

"Funny how the three of them can have a nice little family discussion and forget you're sitting right here." Racheal said.

"I'm staying out of it on purpose." Katie said quietly. "I wanna see what happens."

The truth was, Katie didn't even realize her father and brothers were taking until Racheal had pointed it out to her.

"But after, we're gonna meet up right?" Sam said. "Use the gun together right? You're leaving again aren't you? You still wanna go after the demon alone. You know, I don't get you. You can't treat us like this."

"Like what?" John asked.

"Like were children." Sam replied.

"You are my children. I'm trying to keep you safe." John said.

"Dad, all due respect but uh, that's a bunch of crap." Dean said.

Katie looked up at her older brother. She had never thought that she would hear Dean call their dad on his crap and apparently neither did anyone else, judging by the looks on their faces.

"Excuse me?" John said.

"Come on Dad, you know what Sammy and I've been hunting. Hell you even sent us on a couple hunting trips yourself. You can't be that worried about keeping us safe."

"It's not the same thing Dean." John said.

"Well, then what is it? Why do you want us outta the big fight?"

"This demon is a bad son of a bitch. I can't make the same moves if I'm worried about keeping you alive." John replied.

"You mean you can't be as reckless." Dean said angrily.

"Look, I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece. Your mother's death, it almost killed me. I can't watch my children die too. I won't."

"What happens if you die?" Dean asked. "Dad what happens if you die and we could've done something about it? You know I've been thinking. I-I think maybe Sammy's right about this one. I think we should do this together. We're stronger as a family Dad. We just are and you know it."

"We're running out of time." John said. Now you do your job and you get out of the area, that's an order."

John started to walk toward the vampire chick when Sam called out.

"What about Katie?"

"What about her?" John asked as he turned around to face Sam.

"I notice you don't have a problem keeping her close to you in all of this"

"Hey!" Katie called as she jumped off the hood of her friend's car and marched over to her younger brother. "First off, Dean _told_ me to stay with him so the old man couldn't have gotten rid of me no matter how hard he tried and believe me he tried damn hard at first. Second, take a _real_ good look at my face, Sam. If I can manage to get myself beat up this bad, _you_ would have been dead months ago. You don't have the first clue as to what the hell's been going on so just shut up. And third, you had eighteen years with dad before you cut yourself off from the family and went to school. Yes, I know about that fight between you and the old man and I know what he said to you, but it was _your_ decision to stop talking to Dean. That was more my fault than anything, but still. Excuse me for wanting to get to know a few things about our dad before I let him go off and do something stupid. I know you have a problem with me Sam and I understand it, but I wouldn't let you take it out on Dean after Chicago and I'm not gonna let you take that out on Dad now. Stop acting like the selfish bastard you are and do as you're told, just this once."

By the time Katie was done with her little tirade, she was out of breath. She stood toe to toe with Sam, glaring at him and daring him to say something else. The others just stared at the scene unfolding in front of them, except for Racheal that is because she knew it had been coming for years. Dean was silently begging Sam to back off before he pushed Katie too far and she decked him. John didn't know what the hell to think about any of it and Racheal went over to the vampire chick and began to untie her so she could put the woman into John's truck.

Sam stared down at his feet. He couldn't bring himself to look his sister in the eyes. Katie was practically an outsider to his family and she had just said the exact words to him that Dean had said once. It was several minutes before he said anything.

"Is that really what you think of me?" he almost whispered to Katie.

"Yes." Katie said bluntly.

"Why?" Sam asked, finally looking at Katie's face.

"Because of the way you act sometimes." Katie replied. "All that matters is how things affect you. Did you ever stop to think of what all your petty fights with dad did to Dean? Or how bout the fact that my twin died to save you from that cult back in Nevada nine years ago?"

Sam went back to staring at his feet at Katie's last words. Katie let out a sigh and then went over to help Racheal load the vampire chick back into John's truck. She didn't mean to go that far. She just wanted Sam to stop so they could get back to the job at hand.

As soon as the vampire chick was loaded back into the truck, Katie went straight to Racheal's car and got into the passenger seat. She closed the door and stared at the dashboard while she was waiting for Racheal to get in and start the car. After a minute, she looked up and saw Dean staring at her. She knew he wanted to know how she got that information about Laura, but now just wasn't the time to tell him. She was still watching him when Racheal got into the car.

"You know he had that coming, right?" Racheal said.

"Yeah, but I didn't have to go that far." Katie replied.

"Actually, you should've given him a lot worse."

"No, he doesn't really know anything."

"That's still no reason for him to act like an ass."

Racheal started the engine and they headed for the old barn, followed by the Impala. They still had a job to do and it wasn't gonna get done with them sitting around sniping at each other all night.


	10. Chapter 10

_Sorry it's been so long since my last update. Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. I hope to have ch 11 up sometime this week._

_**Chapter 10**_

They followed John until they were a mile from the old barn, then Racheal and Dean pulled off onto the side of the road while John kept going. The idea was for the leader to grab one or two of the lackeys and follow John, leaving Sam, Dean, Katie, and Racheal to wipe out the others and get the hostages back into town.

As soon as Racheal stopped the car, Katie hopped out and grabbed her machete. She headed straight to the barn as fast as she could, not bothering to wait for the others. She wasn't surprised that Dean was right there with her almost immediately. Half way to the barn, Sam and Racheal caught up, but only because Katie had stopped.

"What is it?" Dean asked.

"Racheal." Katie called out.

"Yeah." Racheal answered."

"How many cars did you count outside the barn when we were there earlier?" Katie said.

"Four, but vampire lady and her large dead friend had one so that left three." Racheal replied.

"Dean, how many vamps did you count?" Katie asked as she turned to her brother.

"Eight minus two." Dean said.

"You sure there weren't any more?" Katie said.

"Pretty sure." Dean replied. "What's _wrong?_"

Dean stopped as Katie's thought entered his head. They'd heard two cars pull away from the barn, but before that, they'd heard five car doors slam closed.

"He's _in trouble_." Dean said.

"GO!!!" Katie yelled.

"We can't _just leave you girls_." Dean said.

"Yes _you can_. There's only one. Dad _needs you more than we do_." Katie replied.

"Sam, get back to the Impala. Now." Dean said as he turned around and headed back to his car.

Sam and Racheal only heard about nine words from the last part of the conversation between Dean and Katie, so they were thoroughly confused.

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

"I'll explain later, just move." Dean called behind him.

The girls watched as Sam and Dean headed back toward the Impala, then they turned and continued on their way to the barn.

"John pulled more of them then he planned on, didn't he?" Racheal asked.

"Yes." Katie replied.

"Why did you send them to help him? John's gonna see it as them disobeying orders and you said that's something Dean never does."

"I'll explain later. We got a job to finish."

The girls snuck into the barn and Racheal made quick work of the last remaining vampire while Katie broke open the cages. The vampires had ten people locked up all together so instead of making several trips with them in the Camero, Katie called for the police and ambulance to come while Racheal disposed of the vampire's dead body. Katie gave what little medical attention she could until the police arrived and then both girls snuck out and headed for the car. Sam, Dean, and John were standing around the Camero when the girls got there.

"You two alright?" John asked.

"We're fine dad." Katie replied as she opened the passenger door on the Camero.

"Good. Now you wanna explain to me what the hell is going on?" John said angrily.

"Nope." Katie answered.

Before John could say anything else, Katie got into the car and closed the door. Racheal followed suit and then started her car and revved the engine. John had parked his truck in front of the Camero and the Impala was behind it, trapping Racheal between them. John looked from the car to his sons. Both boys shrugged and then got into the Impala.

Dean started his car and then backed up so the girls could get onto the road. Racheal pulled out carefully so she wouldn't kick any gravel back at the Impala and then floored it as soon as she had her car square on the road. Dean did the same thing and followed the girls back into town.

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John stood there watching as both cars sped down the road. He had hoped that Katie would tell him she had told the boys to come after him, but the way Dean had left after the girls had him wondering if the boys had disobeyed his order on their own. If the latter was the case, then Katie was right. The boys weren't just going to let him leave and that meant John had a serious problem on his hands.

John stood there until he couldn't see the two cars, then got into his truck and headed back into town. He decided on the way that his children were right. They were stronger as a family. He just didn't realize how much stronger they were until he had all three of his children in front of him.

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"You gonna tell me why you sent the boys after your dad now?" Racheal asked as she looked into the rearview mirror and saw the Impala behind them.

"Because Dean told him off." Katie replied.

"What?" Racheal said a hint of surprise and disbelief in her voice.

"Dean stood up to Dad." Katie said. "He's never done that before."

"Why is that important at this particular time?"

"John and I came up with a plan. He was gonna leave with the gun and use a spell I taught him to summon and trap the demon on his own. I was supposed to keep the boys from finding him while he did it, but Dean told him off and changed everything."

"You really do have a weird family. So what's the plan now?"

"We go back to the motel and you drop me off. Then the boys and I go after John."

"Aren't you the one that said this involves me too?"

"I'd like for you to go to your dad's unless you insist on staying. If things go wrong, I need to know there is some one I can call for help."

"I'll stick around thanks."

"Ok. Then we'll just go back to the motel and wait for the boys to pack."

"I take it John still hasn't found the tracer you hid on his truck?"

"Nope and he hasn't found the one I sewed into his coat either."

"You sneaky little witch."

Both girls laughed just as they pulled into the motel parking lot. They were still laughing when they parked the car and got out.

"What's so funny?" Sam asked.

"Nothing." Racheal replied.

"Yeah I can see that." Sam replied sarcastically.

Katie saw Dean roll his eyes just before he turned to unlock the door to the room. They were all quiet when they entered the room. Katie was the last one in and as soon as the door closed, Dean spoke.

"So what do we do now?"

"Racheal and I are gonna hang out while you two pack your stuff and then we go after Dad." Katie replied as she and Racheal each sat on a bed.

"We don't even know where to start." Sam said.

"We will as soon as I turn on my laptop." Katie said with a smile.

"Did dad leave you a note on it or something?" Sam asked.

"Nope. I hid a GPS tracer on his truck as well as in his coat." Katie replied.

"Does dad know you did this?" Dean asked.

"He knows about the one on his truck, but not about the other one so you can take your time packing." Katie answered.

Sam and Dean started packing and were half way done when they heard John's truck pull up outside. Dean looked at Katie and she shrugged. She wasn't expecting John to come back at all. They were all looking at the door when John walked in.

"So boys." John said as he walked toward Sam and Dean.

Sam and Dean turned toward John. Katie got off the bed and walked around behind her brothers to stand by Dean, placing her older brother between her self and Sam.

"Yes, sir." Sam said.

"You ignored a direct order back there." John said.

"Yes, sir." Sam said.

"Yeah, but we saved your ass." Dean said quietly.

Katie and Sam looked from Dean to each other and then back to John. John and Dean were having their own little staring contest.

"You're right." John said.

"I am?" Dean questioned.

"It scares the hell out of me. You two and your sister are all I've got, but I guess we are stronger as a family. So, we go after this damn thing…together."

"Yes, sir" Sam, Dean, and Katie said together.

_A/N: The part of Dean and Katie's conversation in italics is the part of the conversation that Sam and Racheal didn't hear. I just had to put that in some how for all my wonderful readers._


	11. Chapter 11

_Sorry It took me so long to get this chapter up. I hate it when work gets in the way of my writing. Thanks to Nikki for her review of chapter 10._

_**Chapter 11**_

Katie looked from her father to her brothers and then walked out of the room. She came back in carrying her laptop a large folder and two duffel bags.

"What are you doing?" John asked his daughter.

"Same thing I do everyday." Katie said as she walked past, handing John the folder. "Looking for the demon. I figure you can get the boys up to speed while I start the search program."

"What about Racheal?" John asked.

"She knows almost everything we do. In fact, she found a few things in Laura's stuff we didn't know." Katie said.

"Laura's stuff?" Dean asked, "I thought we had everything in Montana?"

"So did I, until Racheal called and said she found a bunch of research notes in Laura's handwriting." Katie replied. "It was stuff she apparently didn't want anyone to find so she hid it in the basement. Did you bring that stuff with you Rache?"

"Nope, Caleb has it." Racheal replied. "He said he knew that stuff was there and Laura made him promise not to let John have it. I think she was afraid he might go do something stupid."

"OK, everybody just stop." Sam said loudly.

The other hunters in the room turned to look at the youngest Winchester with confused looks on their faces.

"What's wrong Sam?" Dean asked.

"We just got done killing a bunch of vampires and for the first time in months we don't have to go looking for dad cause he's right here." Sam said. "I think we should take the rest of the night off."

"We don't…." John started.

"Yes, we do." Katie interrupted. "We still need to find where the damn thing is gonna be. Why don't you take your sons out to eat?"

"What about you?" Dean asked.

"I need to check in with Caleb and Racheal needs to call her dad." Katie replied.

"No I don't." Racheal replied indignantly.

"When was the last time you talked to Bobby?" Katie asked her friend.

"About….oh. You're right. Dad has got to be freaked out." Racheal replied.

"I am not gonna leave you girls alone." John said flatly.

"We'll be fine Dad. Racheal and I are perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves. We've been doing it for years." Katie said reassuringly.

"But what if…." John left the rest of the question hanging.

"I don't think we have to worry about that now. Not with five of us here and our new toy." Katie said. "Now would you just go already and bring me back a cheeseburger and some fries."  
"Oooh, I want a pizza." Racheal said.

Sam and John walked out the door. Dean hung back for a second, watching Katie and then he nodded and followed the rest of the family out of the room.

"What was that?" Racheal asked.

"Dean thinks I'm gonna take off." Katie replied.

"Are we?"

"No. There are two demons outside. I noticed them watching the room when we got back."  
"You're trying to draw them out."  
"Actually, I thought you and I could go take care of them while the guys are gone."  
"I like that idea too. Let's go."

The girls walked out to Rachael's car and grabbed two cans of black spray paint out of the trunk and then went back into the room. Then they climbed out the bathroom window and walked into the woods behind the motel. When they were about a mile away, they used the spray paint to place a devil's trap on the ground and then went back to the motel. They climbed back into the room through the bathroom window and then walked right out the front door.

Katie caught the attention of the two demons outside and then waved to them. When they started to run toward the girls, Katie and Racheal headed off around the back of the motel and straight toward their trap. They stopped once in awhile to make sure the demons were still behind them. They reached the trap in about ten minutes and the whole thing was over about ten minutes after that. Neither of the girls got a scratch. They got rid of the evidence, led the two people back to the motel and then went back to their room. They were sitting on a bed watching TV by the time John and the boys got back to the room.

"So what lovely things have you two been up to while we were gone?" Dean asked.

"Just watching TV." Katie replied innocently.

"Yeah, uh huh. Why don't I believe you?" Dean asked.

"Because you're my big brother and you know me too damn well." Katie said with a smile.

"What happened?" John asked, catching Katie's meaning.

The girls just looked at each other and shrugged.

"Nothing happened Dad." Katie replied.

"We've just been sitting here watching a little TV." Racheal replied. "Hey, is that my pizza?"

Sam looked from Dean to their dad and shook his head. Even the youngest Winchester could see that they weren't gonna get an answer. Sam handed the box he'd been carrying to Racheal and then sat down on the other bed to watch TV. The rest of the night went by quietly, until the alarm on Katie's computer went off at four A.M.


	12. Chapter 12

_I'm putting chapter 12 up a little early, just because I can. Thanks to NikkiEvans and Ezraduke for their reviews and thanks to everyone else who's just reading. Special thanks go out to SciFINutTX and laceym cause I like them._

_**Chapter 12**_

"So this is it. This is everything I know." John said. "Look our whole lives we've been searching for this demon right? Not a trace, just nothing, until about a year ago. For the first time I picked up a trail."

"That's when you took off." Dean said.

"Yeah. That's right. The demon must of come out of hiding or hibernation." John said.

"Alright, so what's this trail you found?" Dean asked.

"It's starts in Arizona, then New Jersey, California. Houses burned down to the ground. It's going after families, just like it went after us." John replied.

"Families with infants?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, the night of the kids' six month birthday." John replied.

"I was six months old that night?" Sam asked.

"Exactly six months." John replied.

Dean looked over to Katie. The girl was pretending not to pay attention to the conversation by staring at her laptop. The night their mother was killed had been Katie and Laura's second birthday as well as Sam's six month birthday. Dean was about to point out that fact when Katie finally looked up at him and shook her head.

"So this demon is going after these kids for some reason. Same way it came for me. So mom's death, Jessica it's all cause of me?" Sam said.

"We don't know that Sam." Dean said.

"Oh really, cause I'd say we're pretty damn sure, Dean." Sam said, his anger rising.

"For the last time, what happened to them is not your fault." Dean said.

"Yeah you're right." Sam yelled. "It's not my fault but it's my problem."

"No, it's not _your_ problem it's _our_ problem." Dean and Katie said together.

"Ok, that's enough." John said.

A tense silence filled the room. The four Winchesters just looked at each other while Racheal sat back and watched them all. Sam paced around the room for a second before breaking the silence.

"So why's it doing it? What does it want?"

"Look, I wish I had more answers, I do." John replied. "I've always been one step behind it. Look, your sister and I have never gotten there in time to save…."

"Alright, so how do we find it before it hits again?" Dean asked.

"There's signs." John answered. "Look, it took me awhile to see the pattern, but in the days before these fires signs crop up in an area. Uh, cattle deaths, temperature fluctuations, electrical storms and then I went back and checked and.."  
"These things happened in Lawrence." Dean said.

"A week before your mother died." John finished. "and in Palo Alto, before Jessica. These signs are starting again."

"Where?" Sam asked quietly.

"Salvation, Iowa." Katie answered. "Picked it up early this morning."

"That's what that noise was." Dean said.

"Yeah, sorry bout that. I thought I had turned it down when you all went to bed." Katie said kinda sheepishly.

"So what are we standing around here for?" Racheal said. "Let's get packed and get going."

Fifteen minutes later, all three black Chevys were on the road. John in his truck, Sam and Dean in the Impala, and Katie with Racheal in the Camero. Just after they passed the sign telling them they were in Salvation, John started to pull onto the side of the road and Katie's cell phone rang.

"Hello." Katie answered.

"Where are you?" A male voice asked.

"I'm in Iowa with Dad, Racheal and the boys." Katie replied. "Caleb what's wrong?"

"Jim Murphy was killed last night." Caleb replied.

"What?!? How?"

"Some one slit his throat. Kevin and Josh found traces of sulfur in the damn church."

"I'm sending Rachael to you. Where are you?"

"Lincoln, Nebraska."

Katie hung up her phone and shook her head. They had all just lost a very dear friend, but it also meant that the demons were getting more aggressive.

"What's going on?" Racheal asked while watching the Winchester men through her windshield.

"Jim Murphy was killed by a demon last night. Inside his church." Katie replied. "I need you to get to Lincoln. If I'm right, the demons are going after anyone who has ever been involved with my dad."

"If that's true, my dad could be next on the list. I gotta get to him." Racheal said slightly panicked.

"Caleb is closer. Call Bobby on your way to Lincoln so you can warn him, then grab Caleb and get your ass home. Ok?"

"I can do that. Just finish this thing once and for all."

"That's the plan."

Katie got out of her friends car and grabbed her stuff out of the back seat. As soon as the door was closed, Racheal backed up and did a U-turn back onto the road.

"Where's she going?" Sam asked as Katie walked passed the boys to get into their father's truck.

"To check on her dad." was Katie's only response, then she looked over to John. "Did Caleb call you?"

John just nodded his answer as Katie opened the passenger door of his truck and put her stuff inside.

"Well, don't stop your conversation on my account." Katie said to her father and brothers as she stood by the open door.

"What do you wanna do?" Dean asked John.

"Now we act like every second counts." John answered. "There's two hospitals and a health center in this county. We split up and cover more ground. I want records. I want a list of every infant that's gonna be six months old in the next week."

"Dad that could be dozens of kids." Sam said. " How the hell we gonna know which one is the right one?"

"We check them all, that's how." John answered. "We got any better ideas?"

"No, sir." Sam said.

Katie watched her father turn back toward the truck so she got into the passenger side and closed the door. When John wasn't in the truck a few seconds later, she turned around and looked out the back windshield. Dean glanced over at her for a second and then trained his eyes back onto their father. A few seconds later John got back into his truck.

"Dad. Are you alright?" Katie asked as they pulled back onto the highway.

"I will be when this is over." John replied. "Listen, I'm gonna drop you off with Sam. I want you to stick close to your little brother until this is done."

"Yes, sir" Katie said.


	13. Chapter 13

_I did something a little weird in this chapter, but explain it in the next one. I hope you like it. Thanks to NIkki for her review of the last chapter and thanks to everyone else for reading._

_**Chapter 13**_

"Katie." Sam said as they watched the truck and Impala drive away.

"Sam don't. We need to get this done." Katie turned and walked into the health center before Sam could say anything else.

It took nearly three hours for Sam and Katie to get the information their father wanted. Katie had a slight headache from reading all the small print.

"Well that was lots of fun." Katie said sarcastically.

Katie looked up at her little brother and saw him start to rub his head. Sam was also swaying as if he suddenly felt very dizzy.

"Sam. What's wrong?" Katie asked.

When Sam didn't answer her, Katie started to get scared.

"Sam. Sammy talk to me. What's wrong?"

She watched him for a few more seconds and then walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. A brief image flashed into Katie's mind and she pulled her hand away from her brother. She had forgotten that Racheal told her there would be side affects from what they had done with Sam at Stanford. When Katie looked back up at Sam, he was digging into his backpack for the map he had placed there.

"Sam, tell me what you saw." Katie said.

"The demon." Sam said as he looked at the map. "It's gonna happen tonight and I think I just found where. Come on, we have to hurry."

Sam ran off toward the park and Katie followed him. Just as they got to the other side, Sam stopped suddenly. Katie watched him start to rub his head again. She looked around the area and then looked back to her brother.

"Sam?"

"There. The woman with the stroller."

Sam jogged over to the woman they saw walking toward the white house and Katie followed.

"Here let me." Sam said to the woman as he reached out for the handle of the stroller. "Looks like you don't need that anymore."

"Oh, thanks." The woman said gratefully.

"She's gorgeous, is she yours?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." The woman replied.

Katie stood behind Sam, scanning the area. She figured it was best to let Sam take the lead because she still had know idea what he had seen in his vision.

"Oh wow, hi. I'm sorry I'm rude, I'm Sam and this is my sister Katie. We just moved in up the block." Sam said.

"Oh hey, I'm Monica and this is Rosie." Monica said. "So welcome to the neighborhood."

"Thank you." Sam said. "She's such a good baby."

"I know she never cries she just stares at everybody." Monica said. "I swear sometimes she looks at you and it's like she's reading your mind."

"What about you Monica? Have you lived here long?" Sam asked.

"My husband and I bought our house just before Rosie was born." Monica replied.

"How old is Rosie?" Sam asked.

"She's six months today." Monica replied. "Big right? She's growing like a weed."

"Yeah." Sam replied. "Monica uh…"  
"Yeah."

Katie saw a look cross her younger brother's face as he looked at her. She knew Sam wanted to tell Monica everything, but the woman would have called the police thinking he was just nuts.

"Just uh, just take care of yourself ok?" Sam said.

"Yeah, you too Sam." Monica said. "We'll see you around."  
"Yeah, definitely." Sam said as he turned to walk back toward the park.

"It was nice meeting you Katie." Monica called out as a horn honked.

Katie nodded and then followed Sam back across the street. They both turned to watch Monica and her family for a minute. Katie was about to grab her little brother and pull him deeper into the park when he suddenly reached both hands up to his eyes and a small cry of pain escaped him and he started to breathe heavily.

"Just take deep breaths Sam." Katie said soothingly, unsure if Sam could actually hear her.

When Sam started to lean sideways, Katie reached up to hold him steady. As soon as her hand made contact with Sam's shoulder, another image flashed into her mind. She jerked her hand away, but Sam started to fall again and he was trying to reach out to her to stop himself. Deciding to just let things happen on their own, Katie reached out for her brother and held onto him until the vision was over.

Just like the last two times, an image flashed into Katie's mind but she didn't let go of Sam. She saw the baby they had just met lying in her crib. A shadow crossed across the crib and there was a man walking around the room. The image then changed to just outside the nursery and Monica was walking into the room. Katie heard Monica say something to the man standing over her baby's crib a split second before Monica was flung into the wall. A second later Monica was sliding up the wall to the ceiling. From the look on the woman's face, Katie could tell she was in a lot of pain. Monica called out to her daughter and then blood started dripping from Monica's stomach. Suddenly the angle of the vision changed and Katie couldn't see anything but fire.

The vision ended as suddenly as it began. Sam started to slump toward the ground and Katie guided him down.

"We have- We have to…" Sam started.

"Easy Sam." Katie said. "I'll call Dean to come pick us up. You just sit there and take deep breaths."

Sam nodded and rested his head on his knees. Katie walked a few steps away from him as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, but she never took her eyes off Sam.

"Dean, we're at the park. Come pick us up." Katie said into her phone.

"What the hell are you doing there?" Dean asked.

"Sam had a vision. I'll let him explain, just come get us."

"I'll be there in five minutes."

Katie walked back over to Sam and sat down on the curb next to him. Dean pulled up in front of them five minutes later. Katie helped Sam up and into the car. She took one last look at Monica's house before getting into the backseat of the Impala. They were back at the motel a few minutes later.


	14. Chapter 14

_Thanks to Ezraduke and fairyofmusic for their reviews. I hope to put up chapter 15 as soon as I write it. Don't you hate it when real life gets in the way of writing?_

_**Chapter 14**_

"What the hell were you two doing at the park?" John demanded.

"Going for a walk." Katie said sarcastically as she walked past her father into the small kitchen area.

"We don't have time for this crap." John said.

"Dad, just calm down for a second ok." Dean said as he guided Sam into the kitchenette and pushed him into a chair.

"What happened to him?" John asked.

"He…" Dean started, but stopped when he looked up at his sister.

"Don't." Katie said.

"He needs to know." Dean said flatly.

"It has to come from Sam." Katie said.

"What the hell is going on?" John yelled.

"Dad." Sam said. "Just sit down and I'll tell you."

Katie poured out three cups of coffee for herself, Dean and John. She handed two of the cups to Dean, left hers sitting on the counter and then went outside to the truck so she could get something for Sam to help with his headache and hers. As soon as the door closed to the room, she called Rachael.

"What's going on sis?" Rachael said.

"You remember our little stunt with Sam at Stanford?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, something finally happen?"

"He had one of his visions. When I touched him, I saw exactly what he was seeing."

"Did you tell them?"

"Nope, but I think I'm gonna have to here in about two seconds."

"Good luck."

"Yeah, call me when you have Caleb."

"I will."

Katie hung up her phone, grabbed her med bag out of its hiding place in the truck and then walked back into the room. She walked back into the kitchenette and started looking through her bag for the Advil as soon as she set it down on the counter. When she found the bottle, she popped three of the pills with a sip of her coffee and then handed three more to Sam.

"Here, this should help with the headache."

"Thanks." Sam said as he took the pills.

"A vision." John said.

"Yes." Sam replied after swallowing the pills. "I saw the demon, burning a woman on the ceiling."

"Alright and you think this is gonna happen to the woman that you met because?" John asked.

"Because these things happen exactly the way I see them." Sam replied.

"It started out as nightmares. And then it started happening while he was awake." Dean said as he walked into the kitchenette to get some more coffee.

"Yeah." Sam added. "It's like the closer I get to anything involving the demon, the stronger the visions get."

"Alright, When were you gonna tell me about this?" John asked Dean.

"We didn't know what it meant." Dean replied.

"When something like this starts happening to your brother you pick up the phone and you call me." John said angrily.

"Call you." Dean said angrily. "Are you kidding me? Dad I called you from Lawrence, all right. Sam called you when I was dying. I mean, getting you on the phone I got a better chance at winning the lottery."

A tense silence filled the room. Sam looked over to Katie and she shrugged. Katie was trying not to show how proud she was of Dean for telling their father off again.

"You're right." John said. "Although I'm not real crazy about this new tone of yours, you're right. I'm sorry."

Dean looked back to Katie and she gave him a small smile.

"I take it you knew about this too." John said, catching Katie's attention.

"Yeah, I knew before they did." Katie said

"What?" How could you know about this vision thing before Sam?" John asked.

"Rachael." Katie replied.

"Oh god, you didn't?" Dean asked.

"Not that, no." Katie replied. "Something else."

"What did you and your friend do to my son?" John asked angrily.

"Would some one please tell me what the hell is going on?" Sam asked.

"The first thing you need to know Sam is that Rachael has powers." Katie said. "She's like you, but different. The demon went after her, but Bobby recognized the signs and got her out. Unfortunately, he couldn't save his wife and son. The demon lit a fire in every room of that house searching for Rachael."

"Oh god." Sam whispered.

"She's had her powers all her life." Katie continued. "The demon did some kind of binding spell on you or you probably would have been the same way."  
"How do you know that?" Sam and John asked together.

"I remember it." Katie replied.

"You remember it? And you didn't think of mentioning this before now?" John asked.

"After the way you reacted when you found out about Rachael back in St. Louis. You're kidding right? Katie said.

"Enough." Dean said. "How did Rachael find out about Sam's ability?"

"The week before Jess, Rachael was visiting me at Stanford." Katie answered. "A couple days after Rachael got there, Jess came to talk to me. She said that Sam had been having nightmares. That he would wake up screaming her name in the middle of the night, but he wouldn't talk to her about it. She was getting really worried. Racheal was in my room and heard the conversation. One of her abilities is to see into other people's dreams, so she tried it that night with Sam. The problem was it didn't work, so we went about it in another direction. She couldn't link to Sam directly but she could link me to him."

"You saw it?" Sam said his voice full of shock. "You saw it and you didn't warn her."

"Sam. I'm sorry. I tried to, but how would you explain that to a normal person?" Katie said sadly. "I tried to get her out of there, go visit her parents or something while you were gone, but she wouldn't. She said she had to be there when you got home, so I just stayed with her."

"I take it you told Rachael what you saw?" Dean asked.

"Yeah." Katie replied. "She said it had to be a premonition and that meant Sam's powers were trying to surface."

"What was the side effect?" Dean asked.

"There wasn't one, until today." Katie replied.

"What was it?" Dean asked again.

"When Sam had that vision about Monica, I saw it too." Katie replied. "But only when I touched him."

"You know as well as I do that's gonna change the more time you spend around him." Dean said.

"Look, guys." Sam said. "Visions or no visions the fact is, we know the demon is coming tonight and this family is gonna go through the same hell that we went through."

"No they're not." John said." No one is, ever again."

Katie and Dean shared one of their looks before he went back to getting his coffee and she went back to drinking hers. She was trying to think of a way to get Monica and her family out of the house when the silence was shattered by the ringing of Sam's phone.


	15. Chapter 15

_Ok, I know. I'm a terrible terrible person. It's been almost 5 months since I've touched this story. Feel free to shoot me in the head. Real life has been insane with the birth of my niece, work, and preparing to move to Texas. I finally got a chance to take a break and do some writing. I owe everyone a huge THANK YOU for their patience and for the reviews everyone has left. I hope there are still people out there interested in this story and again I am really really really REALLY sorry it has taken me this long to post._

_**Chapter 15**_

Sam picked up his phone and a confused look crossed his face before he pushed the send button.

"Hello" Sam said.

The other three Winchesters were lost in their own thoughts until Sam said something that got everyone's attention.

"Meg."

Sam looked over to Dean as John and Katie stood up. John walked toward Sam and Katie did a sweep past all the windows, checking to see if anyone was watching them from outside.

"Last time I saw you, you fell out of a window." Sam said.

Everyone stopped and watched Sam as he listened to Meg's reply on the phone.

"Just your feelings? That was a seven story drop."

There was another pause and then Sam looked at John before he spoke again.

"My dad. I don't know where my dad is."

Sam looked up at John one more time. John held his hand out for Sam to give him the phone and Sam did so reluctantly. Dean and Katie started to say something but a look from John silenced them both.

"This is John."

The silence seemed to go on forever until John spoke again.

"I'm here."

Another long silence filled the room. Dean paced through the kitchenette, occasionally looking up at his father while Katie and Sam never took their eyes off John.

"Caleb?"

The sudden mention of their friend put them all further on edge and a small gasp escaped from Katie. She was about to walk up and grab the phone from her father, but Dean reached out and put a hand on her shoulder and she stopped.

"Caleb?" John said again. "You listen to me. He's got nothing to do with anything you let him go."

Katie's mind was racing. Caleb had practically raised her since she was twelve years old and now he was in danger. She had also sent Rachael to him and for all she knew Meg had Bobby's daughter as well. She felt another squeeze to her shoulder, but even Dean's presence wasn't calming her down this time. John's voice saying Caleb's name again brought her out of her thoughts. With John's next words, she knew that her surrogate father was dead.

"I'm gonna kill you, you know that?" John said.

Katie hung her head and then looked back up at her father. She could imagine what Meg was telling him and what John was going to do about it. She started to walk toward the door, but Dean's grip on her shoulder tightened.

"I gotta make a phone call." Katie whispered to him.

Dean nodded and let go. Katie had Rachael's number dialed by the time she reached the door to the motel room, but waited until she was outside and the door closed before she pushed send. Rachael answered on the second ring.

"Where are you?" Katie asked.

"I'm about an hour from Lincoln. What happened?" Rachael replied.

Katie let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding before she answered.

"Caleb's dead."

"What?!? When?"

"Just now. A chick named Meg that my brother's have tackled before called Sam's phone. I'm pretty sure she's possessed since I saw her fall out of a seventh story window a couple months ago and she's still breathing. She's after the colt."

"You want me to take care of her?"

"No. Just get to your dad's. John's probably already agreed to a trade."

"He's not just gonna hand over that gun is he?"

"No, he's probably gonna stall so the boys can take on the big bad here."

"So what are you gonna do?"

"The same thing I've been doing all year, I'm gonna keep the old man from getting himself killed."

"You know he's gonna fight you on it this time. John'll want you to stay with your brothers."

"Yeah and the brother's will want me to go after John. There's two of them and only one of him so I think I'll go with them on this one."

"You'll call me and let me know everything's ok?"

"Course I will. Just get to your dad's fast. If things go south they'll probably go after him next."

"Who's gonna tell Heaven about her dad?"

"She's next on my list of calls."

"Ok, just remember you gotta watch out for yourself to sis."

"I will."

Katie hung up before Rachael could say anything else. She took another deep breath as she dialed Heaven Johnson's number. She thought about not making the call, but Heaven deserved to know the truth about what had happened to her father and why.

"Hey Gracie. What's up?" Heaven said cheerfully as she answered her phone.

"Listen Hev, I got some bad news for you."

"What is it?" Heaven asked. Katie could hear the fear in her friend's voice.

"Your father was killed. I think a demon got him."

"How, how do you know?"

"Because it called John. I think the demon killed Caleb while it was talking to my dad on the phone."

"Why? Why would it capture my dad and then call yours?"

"Because, Caleb was involved with my family. It killed him because of us."

The line went silent and Katie waited for a few minutes before she spoke again.

"Heaven, I'm sorry."

"I know." Heaven replied, "Just get this thing before it gets anyone else."

"I'll try. Watch your back."

"I will, you watch yours too. Call me when it's done.

Katie hung up her phone and stood staring out at the road for a few minutes. That call had gone a lot smoother than she thought it would. She had expected a much louder reaction from her childhood friend, but Heaven was also a hunter's kid. Most second-generation hunters were raised to not even expect a call when something happened to their parents.

Katie made one more quick call to Max and Jade Micheals. They were two towns over in Gilbert. She asked them if they could meet her in Salvation as soon as possible. She didn't give them an explanation, but they agreed to be there in an hour. Katie thanked them and then walked back into the motel room.

"Everything ok?" Dean asked Katie after she closed the door.

Katie nodded and then headed for her duffle bag so she could repack her stuff.

"Where and when?" Katie asked, looking at her father.

"Lincoln, midnight," John replied. "And you're staying here with your brothers."

"Knew you were gonna say that." Katie said.

"I mean it this time." John said.

"You always do." Katie replied.

"Just…go with Dean and get the piece." John said trying to hide the frustration in his voice.

"Yes sir." Katie replied as she walked out the door.

Katie tossed her bag into John's truck and then climbed into the Impala to wait for Dean. He came out of the room a few minutes later. They were at one of the many antique stores in town before either of them spoke.

"Dad said to meet him by south bound highway." Dean said.

"That works out perfect." Katie said.

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Because that's where my ride is gonna pick me up to take me to Lincoln."

"Ok, let's get this part done then."

They got out of the car and then each went into a different store. Katie had struck out, but Dean came out of the store he had walked into tucking a brown paper bag into the inside pocket of his coat. Katie made another quick call to Jade and the two older Winchester siblings were off the meet up with their father and younger brother. They pulled up behind John's truck just as he was finishing his preparations.

"Did you get it?" John asked.

Dean pulled the bag out of his pocket and then handed it to his father.

"You know this is a trap don't' ya?" Dean asked John. "That's why Meg wants you to come alone."

"I can handle her." John replied, "I've got a whole arsenal loaded. Holy water, Mandaek Amulets…"

"Dad," Dean said, "promise me something."

"What's that?" John asked.

"If this thing goes south just get the hell out." Dean replied, "Don't get yourself killed, you're no good to us dead."

"Same goes for you." John said. "Alright listen to me. They made the bullets special for this colt. Only four of them left, without them this gun is useless. You make every shot count."

"Yes, Sir" Sam said.

"I been waiting a long time for this fight, now it's here and I'm not gonna be in it." John said, "It's up to you kids now. It's your fight, you finish this. You finish what I started, you understand?"

There was a tense silence as all four Winchesters looked at each other and then John handed the real colt over to Dean.

"We'll see you soon dad." Sam said

"I'll see ya later." John said.

John looked at all three of his children and then got into his truck and drove away. Dean, Sam, and Katie watched the truck until they couldn't see it anymore. Just as Sam and Dean turned to get into the Impala, a black Chevy El Camino pulled up behind them.

"Who is that?" Sam asked.

"My ride." Katie replied, "You didn't really think I was gonna let dad walk in there alone did you?"

"I- well actually yeah." Sam replied, "Dad told you to stay here."

"What can I say?" Katei said as she shrugged her shoulders, "I only follow the old man's orders when they make sense."

Katie opened the door to get into the El Camino, but stopped when Dean said her name.

"Katie."

"I won't let anything happen to him Dean. I promise." Katie said.

Dean nodded and then Katie got into her friend's car and was off to save her father from another demon trap. Sam and Dean watched the car drive away with their sister in it and then headed off in the opposite direction to do their part of the job.


	16. Chapter 16

_Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing. Just to give you a heads up there is an evil cliffie at the end of this one. You can't kill me for it, but some flogging will be allowed._

_**Chapter 16**_

"What the hell is going on?" Max yelled at Katie, "First we get a call that Jim Murphy was killed by a demon and then right after you call us to come pick you up, Heaven sends out an "all call" message for everyone to come home because something has happened to Caleb."

"Caleb's dead." Katie replied flatly, "He was killed by the same demon that got Pastor Jim."

"This is because of the Winchesters, isn't it?" Jade asked.

"Yes." Katie replied.

"So you have us following John why?" Max asked anger still present in his voice.

"He's walking into a trap. I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to him." Katie said, "I just need you two to drop me off and then get the hell out of there."

"What happened to your jeep?" Jade asked.

"It's sitting in Bobby's salvage yard with the front end smashed in." Katie replied, "I had a minor disagreement with a killer truck awhile back."

"I don't even want to know." Jade laughed.

"I do." Max said, "What was this truck doing that caused your disagreement with it?"

"It was trying to eat my brother's girlfriend." Katie said around a laugh.

"Wait a minute," Jade said, "You don't have a brother."

"As a matter of fact I have two. We just left them standing on the side of the road next to a big black car." Katie said.

"So the whole "Reynolds" thing was just a cover?" Max asked.

"Yes," Katie replied, "Laura and I were kind of hiding from the state of Kansas. We had to have some kind of story so they wouldn't take us from Caleb and put us back into foster care."

"Why didn't John just keep you with him?" Jade asked.

"That is a very long story I don't want to get into." Katie replied. "If you don't mind, I have a few things I need to work on so I'm just gonna do that and stop talking now."

"Uh, before you shut us out, I think I better tell you that I lost sight of the Sierra." Max said flatly.

"No worries." Katie replied, "I noticed that a little bit ago. It's one of the things I need to work on."

Katie pulled her laptop out of its bag and turned on her tracking program. It took a few minutes to track down John's dots on her screen, but she instantly felt better when she saw those dots were still moving. She then looked for the dot that was her brothers and saw it wasn't moving, which meant they were probably sitting across from Monica's house trying to figure out how to get her family out of it. She had started to get worried about what she had left her brothers to do until something Laura had said once flashed into her mind and it calmed her own the more she repeated to herself.

"_As long as the boys are together, they'll always be ok_."

Katie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then she started to do research on the location John was headed for. She wanted to know as much as she could about the building so she could plan a few escape routes for herself and her father. It was always good to have multiple backup plans in case something went sour, and it almost always did. She was completely lost in her planning when they reached the warehouse.

"Gracie." Jade called.

"Hmmm." Katie replied.

"We're here." Max said.

"Oh, right." Katie said as she put her laptop back into its case, "Now you two get out of here."

"We can't just leave you like this." Jade said.

"You have too." Katie said trying to sooth her friend, "Too many people have already been killed because of this, I'm not gonna be responsible for anymore. Just get the hell out of town and get home. Heaven's gonna need you."

"You be careful." Max said.

"I will, now go." Katie said as she closed the door of the car.

Katie did a quick sweep around the building. She found John's truck parked on one side and two other cars parked in the back. She disabled the engine on one of the cars and moved the other to a different position so it could be used as a get away car in case something happened to John's truck. She had figured out while studying the blueprints that John would probably use the water tower to make his escape and the place he would come out of the building. She just had to find the right place to get in and be able to meet him there as quickly as possible. She had just found her perch to watch what was happening on the ground floor when John walked in.

Katie was too far away to hear what was going on, but she didn't need to. All she had to do was watch and wait for John to make his move. A gunshot shattered the silence and startled her for a moment. She took that as the signal she was waiting for and got ready to bolt from her perch as soon as she saw John make a break for it.

She saw the demons advancing on John and knew she had to come up with a distraction so he could make his move. Katie looked around her and saw a loose piece of pipe sitting close by. She reached out for it and then dropped it onto the floor. When she looked back up to her father, she saw him running for a door and took off for the nearest exit. She got to John's truck a few seconds after he did. John was running off in the opposite direction and a quick inspection of his truck told her why.

"Dad!" Katie called out to him.

John stopped and turned around to look at her.

"This way. I've got another car." Katie said.

John ran toward her and she could tell by the look on his face that he was a little pissed.

"I thought I told you to stay with your brothers." John said as he caught up to his daughter.

"Since when do I ever really listen to you?" Katie said.

"Katie…"

"You wanna stand around and argue with me or would you like to get the hell out of here?"

"Lead the way."

They ran around to the other side of the building where Katie had stashed the other car. Problem was that it wasn't there anymore.

"Well, that's just great." Katie said angrily.

"I thought you said you had another car?" John asked.

"Yeah well, it's not where I left it." Katie replied.

Katie started to run away from the building when she heard buttons being pushed on a cell phone.

"What are you doing?" She asked her father as she turned back toward him.

"Calling your brothers." John replied, "They need to know…"

John's statement was cut off because he was suddenly sailing through the air towards the nearest wall.

"DAD!!!" Katie screamed.

She turned back around just in time to go flying toward a different wall. Her head hit first and bounced off the wall a couple times. The last thing she heard before the blackness took her was her father crying out in pain.


	17. Chapter 17

_Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing this. This chapter's gots lots of action in it. Hope you like._

_**Chapter 17**_

The damn phone ringing was starting to grate her nerves. Katie tried to yell for someone to answer it but she nearly choked. She moved her tongue inside her mouth, tasting cloth. That's when she remembered what had happened to her and her father. She opened her eyes and began searching the room for John. It didn't take long; he was bound and gagged in a chair right next to her.

Katie began to pull at her own restraints and found that it would take her a bit longer than usual to untie herself. She had just started to get to work when the phone started ringing again, this time someone answered it.

"You boys really screwed up this time." A female voice said.

Katie knew immediately that the woman was talking to Sam or Dean.

"You're never gonna see your father again."

Katie looked over again to make sure John was still there and then went back to working on untying the ropes around her hands. She kept her eyes locked on the woman who had answered her father's phone the entire time.

"What are you staring at?" Meg asked.

Katie couldn't answer because of the gag in her mouth so she shrugged her shoulders and kept right on staring.

"You know, we figured John had some kind of partner but I didn't think it would be someone so... pretty." Meg said as she walked closer to Katie and pulled the gag from her mouth. "I bet you'll be a lot of fun to play with when Johnny boy and his sons are dead."

"Untie me and you'll find out just how much fun I can be." Katie replied.

"Oh, I don't think so." a male voice said from behind Katie.

Suddenly, Katie felt a searing pain as she was struck in the back of her head. Things got a little fuzzy and she blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision. She could hear her father's muffled yell just as she was struck again. This time the demon had hit her already messed up shoulder, popping it out of place again.

"Well isn't that funny?" Meg said with a touch of awe to her voice, "You hit her and he screams."

"I wonder if it works the other way too." the man said.

"Remember," Meg said to her companion, "we can't damage him too badly. He's still useful."

"No damage," the man replied, "just a little experiment."There was a loud smack as the man moved around to stand in front of John and backhanded him across the face. Katie didn't make a sound; she just glared at the man as he turned to watch her.

"Guess it doesn't, Mark." Meg said.

"Oh well," Mark replied, "Let's see how much damage we can do to her before she screams."

Katie saw John struggling against his bonds as the man called Mark moved toward her. She nearly had her hands untied and just needed to bide her time. She simply glared at the demon in front of her as he balled up his fist and punched her in the jaw. Her head snapped to the side with a sickening jerk, but she still didn't cry out. Katie turned her head back toward the demon and started glaring at him again as a trail of blood wound its way toward her chin from the corner of her mouth.

Mark continued to hit her for several more minutes all over her body. In his struggles to try and save his daughter, John had fallen over in his chair, but was still tightly tied to it. Katie however, had her hands free and was waiting for Meg to move a bit farther away from John. After a few more hits from Mark, Katie made her move.

Even though one of them had been rather good with knots, they had forgotten to check for weapons. Katie caught Mark's fist as he went to hit her again and at the same time pulled one of her guns from the holster on her back. She emptied a full clip into him in a few short minutes. By the time the demon hit the floor; Katie had cut the ropes holding John and was pushing her father toward the nearest exit all the while firing her second gun at Meg.

John was just about to open the door when it was thrown open and two more demons walked into the warehouse. One of them took a swing at John, but missed. The other went straight for Katie. Before Katie could pull the .38 from the holster on her ankle she was hit from behind by the same piece of pipe she had dropped from the ceiling earlier that night. Just before Katie hit the floor she saw the two new demons beat John to the floor.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next time Katie woke up, she was in a very small space and there was no light. She felt as if she'd been run over by a truck. She tried to stand, but the slightest movement sent pain shooting through her entire body. She decided it would probably be a better idea to try and figure out where she was.

She had just managed to make the pain in her head lessen enough so she could hear better when she caught voices outside. A few minutes later there was a blinding light and Katie moaned because of the pain the light caused.

"Katie." Dean said.

"D-Dean?" Katie slurred slightly.

"Ssssh, it's ok." Dean answered.

"Wh-where's dad?" Katie asked.

"I'm right here Katie girl." John said.

"What about Sam?" Katie said as she tried to open her eyes again.

"He's here." Dean replied, "We're ok. What about you? Can you stand?"

"I-I don't know."

Katie tried to stand again, but there was a shooting pain up her left leg and she fell back to the ground. She was about to try again when Dean pushed her back onto the floor.

"Katie wait." Dean said concern evident in his voice.

Dean lifted Katie up and set her on the bed next to their father. She felt her father's hand rest on her shoulder and leaned back into him. She figured he was probably hurt too, but she just didn't seem to have the strength to hold herself up.

"Oh my god." Sam said.

"Do I really look that bad?" Katie asked.

"You've looked better." Dean said as he started to examine her ankle.

"I wonder if this is what those uh, those red bags at a boxing gym feel like?" Katie said with a small laugh.

"You mean a punching bag?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, that's the words I couldn't remember." Katie replied.

"Sam, You're gonna have to carry her." Dean said as he finished checking out his sister, "Looks like they took a sledge hammer to her ankle.""It was a lead pipe." John said. "Then they decided they needed to keep her out because she nearly got us out of there twice, so they beat on her all the way here. I'm surprised she's actually conscious now."

"I've had worse." Katie said.

"When?" Sam asked.

"It's not important." Dean and Katie answered together.

"We gotta get out of here" Dean said before Sam could say something else, "You think you can hold on so Sam can carry you on his back?"

"Yeah, maybe." Katie replied.

Sam knelt down in front of the bed and Katie grabbed a fistful of his jacket so she could pull herself closer to the edge of the bed. She felt John push on her back to help her out. Sam wrapped his arms around her legs while Katie wrapped one arm over the top of Sam's shoulder and the other underneath his left arm. She locked her right hand around her left wrist just as Sam was standing up.

The four of them had just gotten out of the bedroom when the front door of the apartment was kicked in. Katie couldn't really see anything because she had her head pressed into Sam's back in an effort to ignore the pain running through her body with every step her little brother took, but from the tone Sam and Dean's voices took she knew things had gotten complicated again. She got slightly dizzy as Sam spun around to go back into the room they had just left.

"Sam put her back down on the bed." Dean said, "I'll get her and dad out onto the fire escape while you salt the door."

"Ok." Sam said as he sat Katie back down on the bed.

Katie placed her right hand behind her on the bed to keep herself from falling over, while Sam got the salt can out of the duffel bag and Dean helped John out the window. Just as Sam started to pour the salt line an axe came crashing through the door just above his head. Out of habit, Katie reached to her back to grab one of her guns, but neither were in the holster. She was about to reach for the one that was usually on her ankle when Dean scooped her up and headed for the window.

"You're gonna have to stand on one foot for a sec." Dean said as he set Katie on her feet. "No problem." Katie said with a small smile.

When Katie had a semi firm grip on part of the railing so she could hold herself upright she nodded to Dean. He turned back toward the window and yelled for Sam to hurry up. Sam came bouncing out the window a few seconds later and then stopped to salt the window ledge to keep the demons from following them out that way in case the salt line at the door was broken by the falling wood. Dean was already headed down the fire escape with john right behind him. Sam turned to say something to Katie, but she stopped him.

"Just like before," Katie said quickly, "but this time I'm just hanging on while you climb down."

Sam turned his back to Katie and she wrapped her arms around him like she had when they were headed out of the bedroom. Instead of him grabbing her legs, Sam left her hanging from his back and made his way down the fire escape as quickly and carefully as he could. When he reached the ground, Sam scooped up Katie's legs and then headed off toward the alley entrance.

Sam and Katie were looking back toward John and Dean when he was tackled from the side. He landed on top of Katie and the air left her lungs in a painful whoosh. Sam rolled away from her and the demon moved with him. When Katie finally got her breath back, she looked over to Sam. The demon was punching Sam in the face with both fists. She heard Dean call out to Sam and briefly saw him run past her.

The sound of Dean screaming and shattering glass had her reaching for the .38 she was hoping was still in the holster on her right ankle. Thankfully, it was right where she left it. She pulled the gun and fired just as another shot rang out from the opposite direction. The demon fell across her legs and she knew immediately that Dean had shot him with the colt. Katie just looked over to him and nodded as she placed her gun back into its holster.

"You okay?" Dean asked Katie as he walked toward where Sam and Katie lay on the ground.

"Sam?" Katie questioned as she rolled toward her younger brother.

"Sam." Dean said as he leaned over the youngest Winchester, "Sam come on, come on we gotta go."

Dean picked Sam up off the ground and then Sam in turn picked up their sister. They stopped by the fire escape to get John and then ran for the Impala and the fastest route out of town.


	18. Chapter 18

_This chapter is kind of a fill in before things get all exciting again. I also needed to resolve a little issue between Sam and sister Kaite. Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. I just love watching my chapter hits go up._

_**Chapter 18**_

Katie tried to stay awake during the drive to where ever Dean was headed, but eventually sleep claimed her. She woke up a couple hours later to Dean gently shaking her.

"What's going on?" Katie asked sleepily.

"Just making sure I could wake you up." Dean replied, "We need to get you and Dad inside so I can check you out."

"Where's Dad?" Katie asked.

"He's asleep underneath you." Dean replied.

Katie turned her head from one side to the other and that's when she realized she was laying against John and his right arm was resting protectively across her right shoulder. Instead of pulling away from John like she normally would have, she snuggled in closer to him.

"I don't wanna move yet." Katie said to her watching brother.

"I see this," Dean said, "but you're both hurt and we gotta get you taken care of."

Katie nodded and then carefully moved away from John toward the open door of the Impala where Sam was waiting to carry her inside. Sam went to reach for her to pull her out of the car, but Katie stopped him.

"Sam wait." Katie said as she held up her hand, "I gotta make sure he wakes up."

"Dad." Dean said as he shook John, "Dad wake up."

Time seemed to stop as the Winchester siblings waited for their dad to stir. When John finally moved, it appeared he was attempting to tighten his grip on his daughter.

"KATIE!" John yelled as he realized his daughter was no longer under his arm.

"I'm right here John." Katie replied as she placed a hand on her father's knee.

"You okay?" John asked his daughter.

"Mostly." Katie replied, "Can you stand on your own or do you want Dean to help you?"

"I'm fine." John replied, "Sam get your sister."

Katie watched John get out of the car as Sam lifted her up. John took two steps and then nearly collapsed, but Dean was there to catch him. Katie tensed up for a second as she saw her father start to fall, but relaxed into her little brother's arms when she saw Dean catch John. She rested her head against Sam's shoulder as he carried her into the house, followed closely by John and Dean.

"You want me to take her into the back room?" Sam asked Dean.

"Yeah…"Dean started, but Katie cut him off.

"No, take care of dad first." Katie interjected.

"You can't even walk." Dean said.

"I can fix most of this myself." Katie said, "Just take care of dad."

"Katie" Dean said frustration evident in his voice.

"Dean." Katie said back in the same tone.

Dean let out a frustrated sigh and then headed toward the back bedroom with John in tow. Sam set Katie down in the nearest chair and then sank down onto another chair a few feet away from her.

"Sam," Katie said quietly, "come here so I can check out your face."

"I'm fine." Sam replied.

"I just wanna make sure." Katie said.

Sam didn't move from his seat. He just sat looking at Katie. She could tell he was completely exhausted, but also knew there was no way he was gonna sleep anytime soon.

"Sam, either you can come over here or I can come to you." Katie said, putting a little more authority into her voice.

When he still didn't move, Katie started to push herself out of the chair. Sam was by her side in an instant, pushing her back into the chair.

"See," Katie said with a smile, "that wasn't so hard. Now you just need to come down here so I can get a closer look."

Sam knelt down and Katie gently probed his face with her fingers. He flinched slightly, but didn't completely pull away.

"Well," Katie began, "You have a few hairline fractures to your right cheek bone, but it's not serious. It's just gonna hurt like a bitch for a week or two."

"Thanks." Sam replied sullenly as he walked back to the chair he occupied a few minutes earlier and sat down.

Sam turned toward the table next to him and rested his arms and head on it. Katie knew he wasn't sleeping, but decided to leave him alone. She needed to take care of her own injuries anyways. Katie slowly lifted up her left foot so she could take off her boot. Dean had loosened the laces when he examined it earlier, but in order to see how many bones were broken and set them in the right place, she needed to get it off.

It took a few minutes, in the end she had to take the laces out completely, but she finally got her boot and sock off. She sat there looking at her ankle, thinking it had turned some very pretty colors, and was unaware that Sam had turned his head to watch her until he spoke.

"We should get you to a doctor for that." Sam said quietly.

"I hate doctors." Katie replied, "They always tell you there's something wrong with you."

"In this case they'd be right." Sam said with a small smile.

"Yeah, but why go to a doctor when you can fix it yourself?" Katie said with a smirk, "I swear I really did go to and finish med school."

As soon as she finished her statement, a loud pop filled the room and Katie scrunched up her face. Sam jumped up out of his chair, knocking it backwards to the floor.

"What the hell was that?" Sam asked.

"Sorry," Katie replied, "I should've warned you before I did that."

"What was that?" Sam asked again.

"I just set my ankle back in place." Katie replied, "Hey Sam?"

"Yeah." Sam said as he picked the chair back up.

"Do you know how to set shoulders?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Cause mine needs to be put back in place again."

"Oh, which one?"

"Left."

Sam walked over to Katie as she held her left arm out. Sam grabbed her wrist and her arm just above her elbow.

"Ready?" Sam asked tentatively.

"Go for it." Katie replied.

There was another loud pop as Sam rolled Katie's arm back and her shoulder slipped back into place. Katie let out a small whimper as Sam slowly laid her arm into her lap.

"Sorry." Sam said.

"It's ok. I should've had you do that when you guys found me in that closet." Katie replied.

"Anything else broken?" Sam asked as he knelt back down in front of his sister to look her over.

"Don't think so." Katie replied as she began to push on her ribs to make sure none of them moved, "Couple ribs might be cracked, but none broken. Why don't you go grab the first aid kit and the weapons bag out of the car? Just leave the door open till you get back inside"

Sam nodded and then stood up. When he got to the door, he looked back at Katie before he went outside to get the stuff from the car. Katie watched the door as she probed her head to make sure there wasn't any place that needed stitches. A soft moan escaped from Katie when she found a particularly sore spot as Sam came back in.

"You sure you're ok?" Sam asked again.

"I will be." Katie replied as she touched the offending spot a little more gently.

Sam set the duffel bag down on the floor and then put the first aid kit on the table by Katie. Katie opened it up and began to get out what she needed to clean up the small cuts on her face and arms. She hadn't noticed that Sam had grabbed the chair he was sitting in earlier and placed it in front of her until he spoke.

"Here, let me do that." Sam said.

"It's ok." Katie said looking up at him, "You don't have to."

"Yes I do." Sam replied with a small smile, "We're family."

Katie let him take the small cloth and alcohol from her hands and then sat very still while Sam cleaned her up. They sat in silence, Sam gently cleaning the cuts to his sister's arms. It was when he started to clean her face that he finally spoke.

"Katie." Sam said almost in a whisper.

"Yeah."

"About what you said while we were in the woods."

"Sam don't. I get a little crazy when it comes to all things Dean. He saved us, Laura and me. Well, he saved our whole family actually and it just bugs me sometimes that no one else seems to realize that but me."

"That's not what I was gonna ask." Sam said as he locked eyes with Katie.

"What happened to Laura wasn't your fault. It was a choice that she made. No one forced her to do it."

"What did happen?"

"That's a story for another time, little brother. You done playing doctor on me?"

"Huh, oh yeah."

"Why don't you do salt lines and I'll clean this up?"

"Yeah ok."

The two youngest Winchesters set about their tasks in an easy silence. Katie noticed there didn't seem to be as much tension in the air as there was before her very brief chat with her younger brother. A few minutes later, Dean walked out of the back bedroom.


	19. Chapter 19

_OK, so we have another evil cliffie at the end of this one. Please don't hurt me too badly, I just thought it was the best place to end this chapter before we get to the mother of all cliff hangers. Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing this. I'm really glad everyone is enjoying this story so much._

_**Chapter 19**_

"How's he doing?" Sam asked Dean.

"Oh, he just needs a little rest, that's all." Dean replied, "What about her?"

"Why don't you ask…"

Sam stopped mid sentence as he turned around. Katie had her right arm stretched out across the table with her head on top of it, facing away from Dean. She was watching Sam, but because Dean was behind her, he must have assumed that she'd fallen asleep. Katie winked at Sam and then proceeded to close her eyes.

"She set her ankle back in place and then wrapped it with an ACE bandage." Sam replied, "I put her shoulder back into place and cleaned up her cuts. I'm pretty sure she's got a nasty concussion so we should probably wake her up again in a few minutes."

"Ok." Dean said as he nodded, "Should probably get her sling out of the back of the car too."

"I already got it. It's under the first aid kit I think." Sam said.

"How are you?" Dean asked as he leaned against the table by Katie and briefly placed his hand on her head.

"I'll survive." Sam replied, "Hey, you don't think we were followed her do ya?"

"I don't know." Dean replied, "I mean I don't think so. We couldn't have found a more out of the way place to hole up."

"Hey uh, Dean you um, you saved my life back there." Sam said.

"So I guess you're glad I brought the gun huh?" Dean replied.

"Man, I'm trying to thank ya here."

"You're welcome."

The room was silent, save for Sam's footsteps as he walked toward another part of the room. Katie felt Dean place his hand on top her head again before he spoke.

"Hey Sam."

"Yeah." Sam replied.

"You know that guy I shot. There was a person in there." Dean said, the regret clear in his voice.

"You didn't have a choice." Sam said reassuringly.

"Yeah, I know. That's not what bothers me."

"Then what does?"

"Killing that guy, killing Meg. I didn't hesitate. I didn't even flinch. For you, Dad, or Katie the things I'm willing to do or kill. It just uh, it scares me sometimes."

"It shouldn't, you did good." John said as he walked out of the back room.

Katie stopped pretending to be a sleep and sat up so she could look at her father. John nodded to her briefly before looking back to his oldest child.

"You're not mad?" Dean asked.

"For what?" John replied.

"For wasting a bullet."

"Mad, I'm proud of ya. Sam and I, we can get pretty obsessed, but you. You watch out for this family. You always have. Hell you even managed to find a way to take care of the girls when I couldn't."

"Thanks."

Katie gave her father a questioning look just as the wind started to kick up outside. A few seconds later, the lights in the cabin started to flicker. Sam, John, and Dean rushed to a window at the front of the cabin. Katie ignored the pain as she stood and limped after them. She briefly placed her hand on Dean's back to let him know she was behind him.

"It found us, it's here." John said kicking into hunter mode.

"The demon." Sam said angrily.

"Oh crap." Katie said as she lifted her right leg to pull her .38.

"Sam, lines of salt in front of every window and every door." John ordered.

"I already did it." Sam replied.

"Well check it okay." John said.

"Dean you got the gun?" John asked

"Yeah." Dean replied.

"Give it to me." John ordered.

"Dad, Sam tried to shoot the demon in Salvation and it vanished." Dean said as he pulled the colt from his waistband.

"This is me. I won't miss. Now the gun, hurry." John said.

Dean looked down at the gun in his hands and then back to his sister.

"_It's not him."_ Katie said to Dean using the telepathic link Rachael had accidentally created.

"Son, please." John pleaded.

Dean took a couple steps back away from John, so that he was standing right next to Katie.

"Give me the gun. What are you doing Dean?" John asked.

"He'd be furious." Dean said, more to himself than anyone else.

"What?" John said, clearly confused by his son's actions.

"That I wasted a bullet." Dean replied, "He wouldn't be proud of me. He'd tear me a new one."

Dean raised and cocked the colt so that he was pointing it straight at John's heart, ready to fire. Katie followed suit with her own gun.

"You're not our dad." Dean and Katie said together.


	20. Chapter 20

_I'm sorry it took me all day to get this up. I promise I was busy writing it. Thanks to every one for the great review. I loves all you guys for reading this, even if you stay all quiet and just read. This chapter ends in Krpike's cliffie, so please dont be mad. He did it, I just added to it._

_**Chapter 20**_

"Dean it's me." John said reassuringly.

"I know my dad better than anyone and you ain't him." Dean replied angrily.

"What the hell's gotten into you?" John asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." Dean replied. "Katie," John said as he took a step toward his oldest children, "come on. Help me out here.""Stay back." Dean and Katie said together.

"I don't think so." Katie replied, "Try pulling that with someone who hasn't played 'guess who the demons are in' for almost a year"

Sam chose that particular moment to come back into the main room.

"Dean, Katie. What the hell's going on?" Sam asked.

"Your brother's lost his mind." John replied, "and your sister, being who she is, is following his lead."

"He's not dad." Dean and Katie replied together.

"What?" Sam asked even more confused than he was when he walked into the room.

"I think he's possessed." Dean replied, "I think he's been possessed since we rescued him."

"Don't listen to him, Sammy." John said.

"Dean, How do you know?" Sam asked.

"He's just different." Dean replied.

"You know, we don't have time for this." John said angrily, "Sam, you wanna kill this demon. You gotta trust me.""Yeah, no thanks." Katie said sarcastically.

Sam looked back and forth between his father and his brother and sister. Katie got the impression he was looking more at Dean than her. She knew how it felt to have to choose between family members and just hoped that Sam would go with his usual reaction and choose Dean.

"Sam" John said, still trying to win over his youngest child.

"No, no." Sam said as he shook his head at his father and moved over to stand just behind his brother.

"Fine," John said as tears started to fill his eyes, "You're all so sure, then go ahead. Kill me."

Katie shifted her aim so that she would hit her father in the shoulder instead going for the lethal shot as John hung his head. She saw the colt start to shake in Dean's hand. She knew he would never be able to pull the trigger against their father, but she could.

"I thought so." John said with a more menacing tone to his voice.

As soon as the sentence was out of his mouth, Katie pulled the trigger. The bullet grazed John's right shoulder and broke out the window they had all been staring out earlier. John spun slightly in the same direction and when he turned back around, he was staring at his children with yellow eyes.

"Well, you little bitch." John said, "I didn't think you had it in you."

A second later, Sam went flying off to the left and hit the wall. Dean went sailing into the opposite wall while the demon walked up to Katie. He punched her in the face and then sent her flying into the same direction he had sent Dean. Her left shoulder hit the window frame, popping it back out again, and her left hand went through the glass. A large piece of the glass could be seen sticking out of the back of Katie's hand.

"What a pain in the ass this thing's been." The demon said as it picked up the colt from where Dean had dropped it and then looked over at Sam.

"It's you isn't it?" Sam asked the demon inside his father, "We've been looking for you for a long time.""Well, ya found me." the demon replied.

"But the holy water…" Sam said.

"You think something like that works on something like me?"

Sam tried to pull himself away from the wall, but it was pulled back with a loud thunk.

"God, I'm gonna kill you." Sam said angrily.

"Oh, now that'd be a neat trick." the demon said mockingly, "In fact, here. Make the gun float to ya there psychic boy."

The demon set the gun on the table as he spoke. All of them looked at it to see if it would move, but nothing happened. The demon let out a low chuckle as he walked toward the broken window next to Dean and Katie.

"You know, this is fun." The demon said, "I could've killed you a hundred times today, but this… this is worth the wait."

Dean and Katie both tried to pull themselves away from the wall, but it was no use. They were stuck there.

"Your dad, he's in here with me." the demon said as he turned to look at the oldest Winchester siblings, "Trapped inside his own meat suit. He says 'Hi' by the way. He's gonna tear you apart, he's gonna taste the iron in your blood."

"Let him go." Dean said, "or I swear to god…""What?" the demon said as he interrupted Dean, "What are you and god gonna do? You see as far as I'm concerned, this is justice."

The demon walked away from the window toward Dean. As he passed Katie, he made sure to hit the piece of glass in her hand and push it in a little bit farther. Katie let out a small cry of pain as she felt it slice into her.

"You know that little exorcism of yours." the demon said as he stood a few inches away from Dean's face, "That was my daughter."

"Who, Meg?" Dean asked

"The one in the alley." the demon continued, "That was my boy. You understand?"

"Oh you gotta be kidding me." Dean said in disbelief.

"What? You're the only one that can have a family?" the demon asked, "You destroyed my children. How would you feel if I killed your family? Oh, that's right. I forgot, I did. Still two wrongs don't make a right."

"You son of a bitch." Dean whispered.

"I wanna know why." Sam said, "Why'd you do it?"

"You mean why'd I kill mommy and pretty little Jess?" the demon said as he turned to face Sam on the opposite wall.

"Yeah." Sam answered.

The demon turned back toward Dean and then started to walk backwards toward Sam as he spoke.

"You know, he never told you this, but Sam was gonna ask her to marry him. He'd been shopping for rings and everything."

When he was close enough to spun back around to face Sam before he spoke again."You wanna know why. Because they got in the way.""In the way of what?" Sam asked.

"My plans for you Sammy." the demon replied, "You and all the children like you."

"Listen, you mind just getting this over with huh? Cause I really can't stand the monologue-ing." Dean said.

"Funny, but that's all part of your MO isn't it?" The demon said as he walked back across the room to Dean, "Mask all that nasty pain. Mask the truth."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" Dean asked.

"You know you fight and you fight for this family, but the truth is they don't need you. Not like you need them." the demon said.

"I do." Katie said angrily.

"Oh don't even get me started on you, sweetheart." the demon said as he rounded on Katie.

"Give it your best shot dickhead." Katie spat back."Well, then let's start with the fact that you just stood there while I killed your mother." the demon said as he pressed the glass farther into Katie's hand, "You know, John never forgave you for that. Then you cost him the life of the daughter he loved because you weren't there when she needed you the most. Which was strike two in your father's eyes."

"You say that like I care what he thinks" Katie snapped.

"Oh, right, I forgot. The only person whose opinion matters to you is Sparky over here." The demon said as he waved his hand at Dean and took a step back so he could look at Dean and Katie, "You two are so pathetic. Sam, he's clearly John's favorite. Even when they fight it's more concern than he's ever shown the two of you."

"I'll bet you're real proud of your kids too, huh." Dean said, "Oh that's right, I forgot. I wasted 'em."

The demon smiled at Dean for a second and then dropped his head. When he looked back up at Dean, Katie saw something shift in his eyes. A second later Dean cried out and looked down toward his chest.

"Dean." Sam and Katie called together.

"No." Sam called out.

Katie could only watch in horror as blood started to poor out through Dean's shirt from his chest..

"You son of a bitch.!" Katie yelled, "Leave him alone!"

"Dad." Dean called out through the pain, "Dad, don't you let it kill me."

"Dean!" Sam cried out again.

Blood started to pour out faster from Dean's chest and now it was coming from his mouth as well.

"Dad, please?" Dean pleaded, trying to get through to his father somehow.

Another rush of blood poured out from Dean's chest and he passed out.

"Dean!" Sam called a third time, "NO!"

"Daddy, please?" Katie whispered, "You're scaring me."

The demon's eyes closed briefly and when they opened again, Katie saw that they were her father's brown ones and not the yellow of the demon's.

"Stop," John almost whispered, "Stop it."

Katie felt the hold against her loosen slightly and she grabbed Dean's hand. When she looked up to Sam, he was rolling across the floor with the colt in his hands. John spun around to face his youngest and Katie could tell by the tone of his voice, that the demon had regained control.

"You kill me, you kill daddy." The demon said mockingly.

"I know." Sam replied.

Sam shifted his aim and fired. Katie saw the bullet enter John's left leg. A sudden shock of electricity that filled the room just before John's body hit the floor. A spilt second later, Dean fell sideways into Katie and they both hit the floor. Katie felt her ankle pop back out of place as Dean landed on it, but she ignored it as she bent her knee just in time to keep his head from bouncing off the floor.

Sam ran toward them as Katie pulled off her overshirt. She ripped off one of the sleeves and then pulled the glass out of her hand. She quickly wrapped the torn sleeve around her hand and then pressed the rest of the shirt to the source of the blood flow from Dean's chest.

"Dean, hey." Sam said just as he reached Dean's side, "Oh man, you lost a lot of blood.""Where's Dad?" Dean asked

"He's right here. He's right here, Dean." Sam answered as he looked back over his shoulder toward John.

"Go check on him." Dean whispered.

"Go Sam." Katie said solemnly, "I've got him."

Sam stood up and began to slowly walk over to their father.

"Dad?" Sam said quietly, "Dad?"

"Sammy, it's still alive. It's inside me, I can feel it." John said, "You shoot me. You shoot me. You shoot me in the heart son."

Sam cocked the colt and aimed for John's chest.

"You do it now." John ordered.

"Sam, don't you do it." Dean and Katie said together, "Don't you do it."

"Sam, you gotta hurry. I can't hold on to it much longer." John said. "You shoot me, son. Shoot me. Son, I'm begging ya. We can end this here and now."

"Sam, no." Dean said, barely above a whisper.

"Sammy!!" John yelled, "You do this. Sammy!!"

Sam lowered the gun and John looked over to Katie. She knew he wanted her to do the job Sam couldn't, but she just shook her head. John started to lie back onto the floor and then his whole body tensed up again. John let out a loud scream as black smoke began to pour out of his mouth. The smoke rose about four feet into the air and then sank back down and through the floorboards.

Katie clearly saw the disappointment on John's face as he looked at Sam. Katie wanted to get up and smack him, but Dean grabbed her wrist to get her attention and shook his head. Katie went back to tending to her older brother, planning to give John a nice lecture later. Sam turned back to Dean and Katie and was on his knees by their side a moment later.

"How is he?" Sam asked, afraid of the answer Katie would give him.

"I don't have the stuff to patch him up here." Katie replied, "He needs a blood transfusion and fast."

"I'll move the car closer so we can load them both into." Sam said on his way toward the door.

Sam was only gone a few minutes. While he loaded Dean into the car, Katie slid across the floor to where their father lay to look at his newly acquired bullet wound.

"Why didn't you finish it?" John asked as soon as the boys were out of earshot."Because some things are more important than revenge." Katie replied flatly, "Now shut up and quit squirming so I can tie the damn tourniquet and stop the bleeding."

Sam was back inside a few minutes later to load John into the car. As soon as Sam and their dad were outside, Katie slid herself over to the table and used it to stand herself up. She had limped herself half way to the door when Sam came back in to get her. Sam rushed over to his sister's side and then scooped her up into his arms."Hey," Katie said in protest, "I was doing ok.""Yeah well," Sam said with a small smile, "you said we needed to hurry.""Now I know why Dean always says you're such a pain in the ass." Katie grumbled.

Sam put Katie into the back of the Impala with Dean. Katie slid across the seat and then turned so that her back was to the door so she could keep a closer eye on her brother.

"You gotta try to stay awake, ok?" Katie whispered to Dean. Dean nodded as he watched Sam get into the car.

They were about two miles from the cabin when John let out a small grunt of pain.

"Look, just hold on all right?" The hospital's only ten minutes away." Sam said as he spared a quick look to John from the road.

"I'm surprised at you Sammy. Why didn't you kill it?" John said, "I thought we saw eye to eye on this. Killing this demon comes first. Before me, before everything."

Katie looked up and saw Sam glancing at her and Dean in the rearview mirror.

"No, Sir." Sam replied, "Not before everything. Look, we still got the colt, we still got the one bullet left. We just gotta start over all right. I mean we already found the demon once…"

Sam was cut off as the Impala was suddenly slammed into from the passenger side. Katie tried to grab Dean and pull him toward her, but she was snapped backward into the passenger door and then everything went black.


	21. Chapter 21

_OK, I think I'm getting really good at the cliff hangers. There's another one at the end of this chapter. Soory it's been so long since my last post. I moved away from my home town again and the only place I can get an internet connection is at work. I'm hoping I can post a chapter at least once a week. Thanks to everyone for being so patient with me and thanks for all the great reviews._

_**Chapter 21**_

Katie returned to consciousness just as Sam was yelling out Dean's name. She sat up carefully, knowing that there had to be some serious damage done to her back because of the crash. At the moment she didn't feel any pain, but that may have been because she was only concerned about the state of her family.

"Sam," Katie called out, "Can you move?"

"Katie?"

"I'm ok, I think." Katie lied, "Can you move?"

"Yeah, I think so." Sam replied.

"Good. I need you to carefully get out of the car and then sit down by the front tire. Do not move any farther than that until I can check you out." Katie said with as much authority as she could.

"What about Dad and Dean?" Sam asked.

"I'm gonna check them out first, but I need you to move before I can get to dad. While you're getting out of the way, I'm gonna check on Dean. Remember to move as slowly and carefully as you can and don't gonna any farther than the ground by the front tire."

Sam nodded and began to slide out of the car. Katie watched him until she could only see the top of his head resting against the Impala's front fender, then she started her examination of Dean.

"Alright big brother," Katie said more to herself than Dean, "let's see what you've done to yourself this time."

Katie immediately checked the laceration on Dean's chest and let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding when she saw that the bleeding had all but stopped. Next she checked his abdomen to see if there were any signs of internal bleeding and found none, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be any later on. She did however find three broken ribs on his right side. Katie figured that he had been slammed into her knee by the initial impact and then thrown back into the door when the car came to a stop. She already knew Dean had some kind of head trauma because he was unconscious, but she silently prayed that it was nothing more than a bad concussion.

As soon as she was done checking out Dean, she slithered into the front seat Sam had vacated as carefully as she could. She somehow managed to make it past Dean and their father without bumping either of them.

"Sam," Katie called out as she started examining John, "you still with me out there?"

"Yeah," Sam replied, "how are they?"

"Still breathing." Katie replied, "Dean's in pretty bad shape and I'm just getting to Dad now."

"Is there anything you can do?" Sam asked almost too low for Katie to hear.

"I don't have the equipment." Katie replied, "Best I can do is keep them breathing until the emergency crews get here. Speaking of which, where's the driver of that truck?"

"He's calling 9-1-1 now." Sam replied.

Katie heard a soft moan come from Sam at the end of his sentence and she started to get a little more worried about him.

"Just sit tight little brother," Katie said reassuringly as she turned to look at him, "I'll be with you in a few minutes and help's on the way."

Katie saw the top of Sam's head bob slightly as if he were nodding and then turned back to finish checking John for injuries. She was just reaching around him to check his shoulder when John suddenly grabbed her wrist.

"Dad," Katie said quietly so as not to startle him further, "it's ok. It's just me. I'm trying to see how messed up your shoulder is."

"M-m-my b-boys-s?" John slurred as he looked at Katie with unfocused eyes.

"They're both right here and doing just fine." Katie lied.

John nodded once and then slumped farther down into the seat, unconsciousness reclaiming him. Katie finished her examination of John quickly and then slid out of the car to the ground. She slowly crawled over to Sam and began to check him for injuries, starting at his feet and going up from there.

"Anything feel weird as you were getting out here?" Katie asked him as she gently pressed his stomach.

"Just my head." Sam replied, "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." Katie replied flatly. She knew she was probably lying, but she couldn't really feel anything at the moment so she didn't know for sure.

"You're bleeding." Sam said.

"Yeah, probably." Katie said offhandedly, refusing to meet Sam's eyes.

"Katie," Sam said sternly, "look at me."

Katie caught Sam's gaze for a second, but before she could look away he reached up and grabbed her chin.

"Are you hurt?" Sam asked more firmly.

Katie looked at her brother a moment longer before answering. She was a little surprised by the concern she saw in his eyes.

"I don't know." Katie answered, "I can't really feel anything at the moment."

"Katie, you shouldn't be moving around so much." Sam said as he grabbed Katie with his other hand and tried to force her to sit next to him.

"I'm fine." Katie reiterated, "If I can get nearly beaten to death, then carry my eight year old twin on my back for almost three miles before getting picked up by a cop, this little car crash ain't nothing."

Katie's statement had just the affect she intended. A look of shock crossed Sam's face as she felt his hold on her relax. Katie twisted out of Sam's grasp just as the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance.

"I gotta check Dean again." were the only words Katie said as she climbed back into the front seat of the car.

Katie had just finished her recheck of Dean as the ambulance arrived, followed by one helicopter and then another. She quickly gave the paramedics a rundown of the probable injuries to her family and then assisted as best she could in getting them ready for transport. Whenever one of them asked her if she was hurt she simply replied, "I'm fine" in the same tone she had used with Sam earlier. It was nearly two hours after sunrise by the time John, Sam, and Dean were strapped onto backboards and ready for transport to the nearest hospital. During this time a second ambulance had arrived. Katie was about to allow one of the other paramedics to examine her when she heard Sam call out again.

"Tell me if they're ok." She heard Sam ask one of the paramedics carrying him to one of the waiting ambulances. Katie heard the paramedic tell Sam to stay still as she rushed over to her younger brother.

"Are they even alive?" Sam yelled.

"Sam." Katie said adopting their father's drill sergeant tone, "Just do as the paramedics tell you. Dad and Dean will be at the hospital before you will. They're gonna be fine, I promise."

"Ok." Sam said quietly as he laid his head back down against the board.

Katie helped them load Sam into the ambulance and closed the doors. She watched it pull away and then looked up into the sky at the shrinking helicopters carrying her father and older brother. She sent up another silent prayer to whatever gods were listening that her family would make it through ok and collapsed to the ground just as one of the paramedics from the other ambulance lightly touched her shoulder.


	22. Chapter 22

_Sorry this chapter is so short. I got myself a little stuck so I cut it off and I'm gonna pick the next chapter back up in Katie's point of view. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing. I hope to have the next chapter up by this time next week._

_**Chapter 22**_

Sam squirmed and fidgeted while the doctors examined him. He kept asking how his family was doing, but they refused to answer him. After what seemed like days to Sam, they finally released him. He was off and running as soon as a nurse gave him Dean's room number. He ignored several nurses telling him to slow down and reached his brother's room in a few short minutes.

"Oh no." Sam gasped out as he saw his brother.

Dean was still unconscious and a ventilator was breathing for him. The sight devastated Sam. He was racking his brain trying to think of a way to fix things when a man's voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"Your father's awake." The doctor said, "You can go and see him if you like and your sister is out of surgery. We'll be putting her in here with your brother when the surgeon releases her from the recovery room."

"Surgery?" Sam whispered to himself then he turned to the doctor and yelled, "Why didn't anyone tell me?!?"

"Calm down." the doctor said, "We had to put a couple pins in her ankle in order to set it right. The real danger is the damage to her spine. There is significant swelling to her spinal cord. We won't know if there is any paralysis until the swelling goes down and we can get a better look. She's also had some serious head trauma, but appears to be doing ok."

Sam shook his head. He refused to believe what the doctor had just told him about Katie. Sam turned to ask Dean what he thought when he remembered that his brother was still out.

"Doc what about my brother?" Sam asked.

"Well he sustained serious injury. Blood loss, contusions to his liver and kidneys, as well as a couple broken ribs, but it's the head trauma I'm worried about." the doctor replied, "There's early signs of cerebral edema. Well we won't know his full condition until he wakes up. If he wakes up."

"If" Sam repeated.

"I have to be honest." the doctor said, "Most people with his degree of injury wouldn't have survived this long. He's fighting very hard, but you need to have realistic expectations son."

Sam turned back toward Dean and just watched him. He was still standing there an hour later when the doctor came back. He was followed by a couple nurses and orderlies, pushing Katie in on another bed. Sam waited and watched until they had Katie settled before he spoke.

"How is she?"

"She woke up from the anesthesia a little bit ago," the doctor replied, "but she's still a little groggy. We won't know if there's any paralysis for a couple more days."

Sam nodded and then moved to stand between the beds of his brother and sister. The doctor watched the young man for a second and then quietly left him alone with his siblings. Sam just stood there looking at his older siblings. He was sure there was something about Katie's condition the doctor wasn't saying.

Sam was back to watching Dean again when he heard a soft moan come from his right. He turned back around toward Katie in time to see a lock of hair fall across her face as she turned her head toward him. He kneeled down next to her bed, then reached out and grabbed hold of her hand as another moan escaped her.

"Shh, it's ok Katie." Sam said as he brushed her hair out of her eyes, "I'm right here."

"S-S-Sam." Katie said hoarsely, "You ok?"

Sam smiled a little at her question. The girl was in a hospital bed looking at the possibility of life in a wheel chair and she was asking about him.

"I'm fine. Docs gave me a clean bill of health. You just go back to sleep."

"Wh-where's Dean?"

"He's right behind me, sleeping as usual." Sam said with a reassuring smile. He didn't think Katie could handle the truth of Dean's condition quite yet so he left things at that.

"M-m kay." Katie said through a yawn, "I think I'll join him."

"Go right ahead, sis." Sam said another smile briefly crossing his face, "I'm gonna go see how dad's doing."

Sam watched Katie nod and waited for a few more minutes to make sure she was asleep before he walked out of the room and headed down the hall towards his father's.


	23. Chapter 23

_I know this is a little early, but with the kids in school, the roommate working days and me working nights, I've had a little time to write. Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. I hope you like it._

_**Chapter 23**_

Katie woke up about an hour later to find her father sitting in a wheelchair next to her bed, but he wasn't looking at her. She watched him until the sound of a ventilator finally registered in her brain and she looked to see where it was coming from. Her eyes went wide when she saw her older brother lying in the bed next to her. Her first impulse was to jump out of bed and go over to him, but John must have seen her moving because he had a hand around her wrist before she could do exactly that.

"Easy, Katie girl." John said, trying to soothe his agitated daughter.

Katie looked at her father and then relaxed back into the bed.

"How bad?" Katie asked.

"He's gonna be fine." John said, "I think I know how to help him."

"Dad," Katie said quietly, "please don't do anything we'll all regret."

"You just worry about getting yourself better." John said, "Let me worry about your brother."

"Mr. Magilicutty." a nurse said from the doorway. "It's time for you to go back to your room."

"My daughter's awake." John said motioning to Katie.

"The doctor is on his way to check on them both." the nurse replied.

Katie watched as John nodded and then removed his hand from her wrist. As soon as the nurse pushed her father out of the room, a doctor came in. Katie quietly watched him check Dean's vitals before he moved around to her bed.

"Awe, you're awake." the doctor said, "That's good."

"Doc, what's wrong with my brother?" Katie asked.

"He's gonna be fine. I think right now you need to concentrate on yourself a bit."

Katie knew that routine. She'd used it herself a couple times working shifts at the university hospital during med school. You keep one patient calm by lying about how bad the other is. She didn't realize how patronizing and annoying that line really was until that moment.

"Listen Doc," Katie said, "that line isn't really gonna work on me. I've used it myself a time or two, just tell me what's going on with my brother. I promise I'll try to keep my freak out to a minimum."

Katie could see the doctor was sizing her up. The man took a deep breath before he spoke.

"He's showing signs of cerebral edema." The doctor said flatly, "We don't think he's gonna make it."

Katie nodded and then turned her head to look at Dean.

"We need to talk about you own condition now, Miss Magilicutty." the doctor said.

"No, we don't" Katie said not taking her eyes off Dean.

"Miss Magilicutty, it's important"

"I just found out that my brother is going to die." Katie said, "Can you come back in an hour. I promise I'll a little more cooperative then."

"Alright, but do not attempt to get out of that bed." the doctor said sternly.

Katie nodded. As soon as the doctor was out of the room, she carefully slid out of bed. Dragging an IV pole with her, she limped over to Dean's bed and leaned against the wall. It was a bit difficult to stand with the cast on her foot and her entire body felt like a lead weight to her, but Katie didn't seem to really notice. She had to let Dean know that she was close by.

"We really got ourselves in deep this time." Katie said to an unresponsive Dean, "Don't worry big brother. I'll find a way out of this."

A short time later, Katie looked up toward the door just in time to see Sam walk by. She could tell by the look on his face and the speed in which he was moving that he was really pissed.

"Oh great." Katie said, "You stay right here and don't move. I'm gonna go stop a fight."

Using the IV pole as a support, Katie half limped/ half dragged herself toward the doorway. Once she got there it was little easier to move up the hallway to the next room using the wall for support. The argument was in full swing by the time she got to her father's room, but there was something else too. She knew there was someone else there, but she couldn't see anyone. She pushed the feeling to the back of her mind and got back to the business at hand.

"Shut up, both of you." Katie yelled.

Sam and John were completely oblivious to her standing in the doorway.

"Go to hell" Sam said.

"You know what." John said to Sam, "I should've never taken you along in the first place I knew it was a mistake…""I said shut up!!!" Katie yelled again.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, a glass of water sitting on the table by John's bed hit the floor. No one was anywhere near it when it fell. Katie watched Sam and John look at the glass, and then each other.

"Dean" Katie whispered. She was looking down at her feet so she didn't see Sam and John look at her.

"Sam, get her before she falls." John ordered.

Katie looked up just as Sam scooped her into his arms. She suddenly felt completely exhausted, as if she'd just run one of Caleb's obstacle courses all day long. Sam carried Katie over to their father's bed and set her on it next to their dad. Katie closed her eyes just as the hall was filled with the sound of anxious voices and people running.

"Something's going on out there." John said, "Sam go check it out. They're probably looking for your sister."

Katie lay quietly next to her father. An excruciating pain had suddenly made itself known in her head and she was trying very hard to make it go away. She felt her father move beside her and then he spoke.

"What were you thinking?" John asked, "You could have hurt yourself a lot worse with your little trip down here.""Had to.. had to stop ..the fight." Katie said through clenched teeth.

"Katie, what's wrong?"

"I'm ..just ..peachy."

Katie squeezed her eyes shut. The pain that started in her head had now traveled throughout her entire body. A roaring noise had come out of nowhere, so her father's voice had seemed like a whisper to her when he yelled for someone to come and help. She felt some one touch her arm and there was this bright flash, even though her eyes were closed, and then she was back in the land of unconsciousness


	24. Chapter 24

_Thanks to everyone reading an reviewing this. I really am glad you're enjoying this so much_

_**Chapter 24**_

The sound of a ventilator woke Katie up this time. When she opened her eyes, she noticed she wasn't in the same room as before. She looked over to where Dean should have been lying in the bed next to her, but no one was there. Katie got up and walked towards the doorway. When she got there, she stopped and turned around.

Katie found herself staring at herself. Her body was on a ventilator and there was a bandage wrapped around her head she knew hadn't been there before.

"I wonder why the decided I needed brain surgery?" Katie mused to herself, "Oh well. Since I'm out and about like this I better go see if I can find Dean."

Katie wandered around until she figured out that she was one floor up from where her father and brothers were. On her way toward the stairs, she found the doctor who had treated her and her family before so she followed him to her father's room. She stood in the doorway so she could watch for Dean and listened to the conversation.

"Mr. Magilicutty," the doctor said, "your daughter is out of surgery."  
"What happened?" John said. Katie could tell he was barely keeping his anger under control. "Why did she start seizing?"

"She had a small bleed in her head." the doctor said calmly, "I'm afraid her little trip down the hallway increased the swelling in her back and shoulder, which in turn increased the bleeding. We've stopped it and we have her upstairs in the neurology unit. We're keeping her in a medically induced coma in order to give her body a chance to heal before she takes anymore visiting trips"

"You never said anything to my son about a bleeding in her head." John snapped. "You never even said anything to me about when I talked to you first."  
"I tried to tell you sir. We wanted to send her straight upstairs as soon as she got out of her first surgery. You were the one that insisted we put her in the same room as your son." the doctor snapped back.

The two men stared at each other for a minute, then the doctor took a deep breath before he spoke again.

"If she hadn't gotten out of bed," the doctor said calmly, "the bleeding wouldn't have increased. I tried to tell her this earlier, but she was only interested in her brother. I didn't even get a chance to tell her what her injuries were before she told me to get out of the room."

"She needs to be with Dean." John said quietly.

"We'll be moving her back down here in about an hour, but we're gonna keep her under for at least a day or two." the doctor said, "I understand you want to keep you're family close, especially given your son's condition."

Katie saw the guilt written plainly on John's face. He was probably thinking that if he hadn't fought with Sam that she would be fine right now. She was about to walk over to him when she caught a movement from the corner of her eye. She turned to look toward Dean's room just in time to see Sam, who was carrying a paper bag, walk into it. She left her father and the doctor alone and followed her younger brother into Dean's room.

Katie reached Dean's room just in time to catch the last part of Sam's conversation with an unconscious Dean. What Sam didn't see was that Dean was also standing right next to him.

"Don't make fun of me for this," Sam said, "but um…but there's one way we can talk."

Katie stood in the doorway and a large grin crossed her face when she saw Sam pull a spirit board out of the bag he'd been carrying.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." Dean said.

Katie let her smile get a little bigger before she spoke up.

"Why don't you quit being an ass and humor him for a second.?" Katie said.

"Katie," Dean said, "you can see me?"

"Yeah, but he can't see either of us." Katie replied, "Now go sit down and talk to your brother. We can have our own little chat here in a second."

While Dean and Katie were talking, Sam had moved to the end of Dean's bed and sat on the floor.

"Dean." Sam called, "Dean are you here?"

"God I feel like I'm at a slumber party." Dean said.

"You look like it too." Katie said with a laugh.

Dean glared at Katie as he sat down in front of Sam.

"Alright Sam," Dean said, "this isn't gonna work."

Katie watched as Dean finally placed his fingers on the pointer and moved it over to the word yes. A smile crossed Sam's face and Dean looked up at her and back to Sam.

"I'll be damned." Dean said.

"It's good to hear from you man." Sam said while still smiling, "It hasn't been the same without ya, Dean"

"Damn straight." Dean replied.

Dean placed his hands back on the pointer and began to move it around toward the letters.

"Dean what?" Sam said, "H -U- hunt. What, hunting? Are you hunting?"

Dean moved the pointer over toward the word yes again. Katie's jaw dropped slightly, but she closed it again almost immediately. Only her brother cloud find a hunt while he was in a coma.

"Dean, is it in the hospital, what you're hunting? Do you know what it is?" Sam fired out rapidly.

"One question at a time dude." Dean said.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"I don't think its killing people." Dean said as he moved the pointer to spell out a word, "I think it's taking them. You know when, when their time's just up."

"A reaper." Sam and Katie said at the same time.

Dean looked up at Katie for a second and nodded, then he turned back to Sam.

"Dean," Sam said quietly, "is it after you?"

Dean looked back to Katie again before he moved the pointer back to the word yes.

"If it's here naturally," Sam said, "there's no way to stop it."

"Yeah, you can't kill death." Dean said with a small smirk.

"Man you're um…"  
"I'm screwed Sam." Dean finished.

Katie could almost see the wheels start spinning in Sam's head. She knew what he was feeling because she felt the same way. The prospect of losing her older brother was just too much. She knew none of them would survive without Dean.

"No" Sam said as he started to stand up, "no, no, no, um…There's gotta be a way. There's gotta be a way, Dad will know what to do."

The elder Winchester siblings watched as Sam nearly ran out of the room. Dean walked over toward the window and sat on the sill while Katie walked over and sat on the edge of the bed next to his body.

"So," Dean said, "What happened to you earlier?"

"Just a little brain bleed It's no big deal." Katie shrugged.

"No big deal." Dean said as his anger rose, "You could be dead because of it right now for all I know.'  
"You're not getting rid of me that easily," Katie replied, "The doctors put me into a medically induced coma to keep me from wandering around."

"So where's your body?" Dean asked.

"Upstairs." Katie replied, "They're gonna bring me back down here with you in about an hour. Now, you wanna tell me about this little reaper problem of yours?"

Before Dean could answer, Sam came back into the room.

"So," Sam said, "Dad wasn't in his room."

"So where is he?" Dean asked.

"But," Sam continued, "I got dad's journal so maybe there's something here."

"I'll go find him." Katie said as she walked toward the doorway, "He probably just went upstairs to check on me."

When Katie got just outside the door, she stopped and turned around. Dean was walking to stand closer to Sam.

"Hey Dean," Katie called, "Don't let it touch you. If it does, it can separate you from your body permanently."

"No worries," Dean replied, "Just go find dad."

Katie nodded and then ran off down the hall. She had a feeling deep in her stomach that John wasn't gonna be upstairs, so she went down instead.


	25. Chapter 25

_Hope you guys like this chapter.� Thanks for reading and reviewing._

_**Chapter 25**_

Katie found her father in the broiler room of the hospital. He was just finishing the summoning spell she had taught him. The spell that would bring the demon that had killed her mother right to them.

"I should've known your little obsession would come before your son." Katie said to her father, even though he couldn't hear her.� What she didn't notice was that there was no Devil's Trap close by as they had planned.

Katie watched and waited as John stood and looked around the room. She watched as a man in a janitor's uniform walked up and placed his hand on her father's bad shoulder.

"What the hell you doing down here buddy?" The man asked as John flinched and turned to face him.

"I can explain." John said quickly.

"Yeah, you're gonna explain to security. Come on, follow me." the man said as he walked toward the exit.

John didn't follow; instead, he pulled the colt from the back of his waistband and cocked it.

"Hey," John said as the man turned back toward him, "How stupid do you think I am?"

Katie just stood there, leaning against a pipe as the janitor's eyes turned yellow.

"You really want an honest answer to that?" the demon asked.

The two men stood there staring at each other. Katie heard footsteps coming toward them and looked over to see two other demons walk up and take flanking positions behind her father.

"You conjuring me John. I took you for a lot of things, but suicidaly reckless wasn't one of them." the demon said mockingly.

"I could always shoot you." John replied.

"You could always miss," the demon said with a laugh, "and you only got one try, don't ya? Did you really think you could trap me?"

"Oh I don't wanna trap you." John said as he lowered the gun, "I wanna make a deal."

"YOU WANNA DO WHAT!" Katie screamed.

Katie looked from her father toward the demon. She saw a smile cross the demon's face as he locked eyes with her. It knew she was there.

"It's very unseemly, making deals with devils." the demon said to her father, "How do I know this isn't another trick?"

"It's not a trick," John replied, "I will give you the colt and the bullet, but you gotta help Dean. You gotta bring him back."

"You can't do that to him." Katie said, "We'll find another way. Dad, please stop this."

"Why John you're a sentimentalist." the demon teased, "If only your boys knew how much their daddy loved them."  
"It's a good trade. You care a hell of a lot more about this gun then you do Dean." John said.

"Don't be so sure. He killed some people that were very special to me." the demon replied, "But still your right he isn't a threat and neither is your other son, of course. You know the truth, right? About Sammy and the other children."  
"Yeah," John replied, "I've known for awhile."  
"But Sam doesn't, does he? You've been playing dumb."

"Can you bring Dean back, yes or no?" John said as his anger rose.

"No, but I know some one who can. It's not a problem." the demon replied.

"Good, then before I give you the gun I'm gonna want to make sure Dean's ok. With my own eyes."

"Oh John, I'm offended. Don't you trust me?"

John shook his head slightly. Katie just stood there fuming. There was nothing she could do to stop any of this in her present state.

"Fine, but let me ask you one question first." the demon said.

"What?" John asked.

"Where does your daughter fit in here? Don't you care about her at all?"

"My daughter is no concern of yours" John replied, "So we have a deal?"

"No John, not yet." the demon said, "You still need to sweeten the pot."

"With what?"

"With something else I want, as much as that gun maybe even more."

"Oh god," Katie gasped out, "You son of a bitch!"

Katie finally couldn't take anymore and she lunged at the demon, but he sidestepped her and she crashed to the floor.

"Dad, you can't do this." Katie yelled, "He's gonna kill you. Just walk away before it's too late."

"I want your life John." the demon said, "I get the colt, the bullet, and you in exchange for saving your son."

John nodded and then headed for the stairs. Katie followed him with her head hung down to her chest. She looked back in time to see the demon smile at her before he left the janitor's body. The deal was done, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.


	26. Chapter 26

_Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing everyone. Special thanks to my girl SciFi for playing beta again. I promise I'll try not to write sofast this time._

_**Chapter 26**_

Katie followed her father up the stairs to the first floor. He walked out to the hospital parking lot and headed for a car that Katie recognized. Racheal was standing next to her Camero and looking rather unhappy.

"I'm here." Racheal said, "So what do you want John?"

"Katie's messed up pretty bad." John replied, "I wanna know if you can do what you did with her and Dean in St. Louis, but the other way."

"From what I hear, Dean's in worse shape that Grace." Racheal said.

"Dean will be fine by morning." John said, "I've taken care of that."  
"What did you do?" Racheal said angrily. Katie knew Racheal was mad because Racheal hated it when anyone did anything to upset her. Sometimes the girl was more portective of her than Dean.

"It's better if you don't know." John replied, "Can you do it?"

"Yeah, no problem." Racheal replied, "Do I need to inform them its happening?"

"I'm sure they'll figure it out on their own, just don't tell them I asked you to do it." John replied.

"Whatever you say."

John and Racheal went into the hospital with a very pissed off Katie behind them. She followed them up to her room in the neurology unit and was slightly amused at the looks on their faces when they found out her body had been moved into Dean's room.

"I've got a few other things to take care of." John said, "Would you go down and check on my kids?"

"Yeah, sure." Racheal replied.

Katie decided she'd be better off staying with her friend. If they were gonna fix her like they had Dean, she needed to be close to her body. Racheal and Katie were alone in the stair well when Racheal said something that got Katie completely off guard.

"I can't see you Grace, but I know you're here. I might be able to hear you though so you wanna tell me what the hell is going on around here?"

"He made a deal." Katie replied, "John made a deal with the demon that killed my mother to save Dean. He gave that thing the colt as well as his own life"

"He did what?" Racheal asked in amazement.

"He's so lucky I don't have a body right now or I'd knock him into next week." Katie said.

"Is there anything we can do to change it?"

"No, it's already done." Katie said sadly, "What the hell was he thinking?"

"That he would do anything and everything to save his kids." Racheal replied, "He's being a real father for once in his life. Come on, let's get you fixed up fast. Those boys are gonna need you when this is all over.

The girls walked into the room just as Dean was being wheeled out of it. He was awake and breathing on his own.

"Hey," Racheal said, "I was just coming to check on you."

"They're taking me for some tests." Dean replied, "Stay here with Sam and Katie would you?"

"No problem." Racheal replied.

Katie stood in the hall watching the doctors take Dean away. She wanted more than anything to go with him, but Sam's first words to Racheal stopped her in her tracks.

"Racheal," Sam said, "can you use me to fix her like you did with her and Dean after that wreck in Missouri?"

"I don't know Sam." Racheal replied, "I could connect her to you to see your visions, but I don't know if the healing thing will work."

"Try." Sam said.

"The side effects could be dangerous." Racheal said.

"She's my sister Racheal, so I don't care." Sam replied, "What ever happens we can deal with."

Katie walked the rest of the way into the room as Racheal took Sam's hand and pulled him closer to her body. Racheal then put Sam's hand on top of Katie's and closed her eyes. Katie immediately felt herself being pulled back toward her body. She tried to resist it at first, but the pull kept getting stronger and Katie knew that if she fought it, the connection Racheal had created would break. Katie stopped fighting and let the blackness take over.


	27. Chapter 27

_Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. Special thanks to SciFi for being her usual cool self._

_**Chapter 27**_

Katie woke up at three am that morning, still groggy from the medication. The room was dark and she could hear the faint beep of a heart monitor close by. She tried to sit up, but someone placed their hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down.

"Easy sis," Dean said. "They tell me you already messed your head up once by taking an unnecessary trip down the hall. Don't want you to do it again."

"Dean?" Katie said. "DEAN! You're awake, but the doctor said…."

"Sshh. You'll wake up Sam and Racheal." Dean admonished.

"Racheal. Oh crap, she didn't." Katie said as her eyes went wide.

"Oh, she did." Dean replied. "She started it with Sam because he asked her to. I had her change it when Sam fell asleep."

"Where's dad?" Katie whispered.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him yet." Dean replied

A feeling like she was forgetting something really important washed over Katie. Something was very wrong.

"I know." Dean whispered. "I have the same feeling."

"What do we do?" Katie asked.

"You're gonna go back to sleep." Dean replied. "There's nothing we can do till in the morning."

"But dad…."  
"Is probably out of town and back on the hunt already." Dean interrupted. "Just go to sleep. We'll look for him tomorrow."

Katie nodded and let herself drift back to sleep. She awoke the next morning when the doctor came in to discuss the results from Dean's tests the night before.

"I can't explain it." the doctor said. "The edema's vanished, the internal contusions are healed, your vitals are good. You got some kind of angel watching over you."

"Thanks Doc," Dean replied. "What about my sister?"

"You said she woke up last night?" the doctor asked.

"Yeah." Dean replied.

"Well, we'll take her for some tests when she wakes up." the doctor said.

"She's awake now." Katie said. "cause you people are too damn loud."

"Alright then," the doctor said. "I'll go see about getting those tests done."

Racheal sat up in her chair straighter and all four of them watched as the doctor left.

"So, you said that a reaper was after me?" Dean asked Sam.

"Yeah." Sam replied.

"How'd I ditch it?" Dean asked.

"Ya got me." Sam replied. "Dean, you really don't remember anything?"

Katie caught Racheal's look and gave her friend a confused one in return. She still couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something and it was only getting stronger by the second.

"No," Dean replied. "Except I've got this pit in my stomach. Sam, something's wrong."

Suddenly there was a light knock on the door. Everyone looked up to see John standing in the doorway.

"How ya feeling dude?" John asked Dean.

"Fine I guess." Dean replied. "I'm alive."  
"That's what matters." John said with a small smile.

"Where were you last night?" Sam asked their father.

"I had some things to take care of." John replied.

"Well that's specific." Sam said angrily.

"Come on Sam." Dean said.

"Knock it off." Katie added.

"Did you go after the demon?" Sam asked John.

"No." John said with a shake of his head.

"You know, why don't I believe you right now?" Sam asked.

Katie saw the flash of pain cross Dean's face. She was gonna jump out of bed and smack Sam in the back of his head, but Racheal stopped her and motioned toward John. He had taken a couple more steps into the room toward Sam and what he said surprised everyone in the room.

"Can we not fight?' John said to his youngest. "You know half the time when were fighting I don't know what we're fighting about. We're just butting heads. Sammy I've, I've made some mistakes, but I've always done the best I could. I just don't wanna fight anymore ok?"

"Dad, are you alright?' Sam asked.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm just a little tired." John replied. "Hey Sam, would you mind uh, would you mind getting me a cup of caffeine?"

"Yeah, yeah sure." Sam replied.

John watched Sam walk out of the room while the others watched him. Before anyone could say anything else, a nurse arrived with a wheel chair to take Katie for her tests.

"I don't wanna go yet." Katie protested.

"Now now," the nurse said. "Doctor's orders."

"I'm not going." Katie said. "I'm staying with my dad."

"It's alright Katie girl." John said. "Just go."

"No." Katie almost yelled. "I'm not going anywhere until I find out what's wrong with you."

"Dean, a little help here." John said.

"Katie." Dean said.

Katie and Dean stared at each other for a second, then Katie nodded and slid off the bed into the chair. John squeezed Katie's good shoulder as the nurse pushed her past him.

"I'll stay with her." Racheal said, "Make sure she behaves herself."

A few minutes later Katie was lying in a CT scanner. The machine had just started the scanning process when a sudden and nearly overwhelming sadness washed over her. Katie began to punch and kick the walls of the machine.

"Miss, you need to calm down." she heard some one say over the intercom.

"I have to get back to my brothers now." Katie yelled.

The table she was lying on began to move out of the machine, so Katie stopped fighting. When she was completely out of it, Racheal burst into the room.

"Grace, what's wrong?" Racheal asked.

"Take me back to Dean." Katie said.

Racheal nodded and then helped Katie back into the wheelchair. They raced out of the room and down the halls as fast as they could possibly go. When they got back to the room Katie had left her family in, Dean was sitting on his bed and Sam was sitting in the chair Racheal had slept in the night before with his head in his hands. Neither of the boys looked up when the girls entered the room. Katie knew by the looks of them what had happened before Dean said the words.

"Dad's Dead."


	28. Chapter 28

_Well, here's the next chapter. Hope you all like it. Thanks for the great reviews and special thanks to SciFiNutTX for playing beta. You guys really should read her stuff cause she's better at this then me._

_**Chapter 28**_

Katie checked herself out of the hospital AMA three days later. Her back was still a little messed up, but the doctor told her that as long as she stayed in bed as much as possible for the next two to three weeks she shouldn't suffer any paralysis. Dean and Racheal had made arrangements for them all to stay at Bobby's until Katie could stand on her own two feet again and the Impala was fixed.

Katie had just slid on her black leather jacket when she started to think about John again. She had hated the man for most of her life and now she wanted him there more than anything. She slid her hands into her pockets and felt something brush against her hand. She looked down and then pulled out a folded piece of paper. She didn't remember putting any notes in her coat in the last couple of months.

As she unfolded the paper, her father's unique handwriting jumped out at her. She wondered when John had stuck that in her coat, but shrugged and began to read.

_Katie,_

_There are so many things I want to say to you. More importantly, I wish I could say them in person, but there isn't time. I know I can never make up for my mistakes with you. That is my biggest regret. I know now that I was wrong, that I never should have kept you away from your brothers the way I did and that I can never apologize to you enough._

_Right now, you probably want to disappear and forget that I ever existed, but I'm asking you not to do that. Your brothers need you. _I _need you to stay with them. The job isn't finished yet and Sam is still in danger. You already know what's at stake as far as your younger brother is concerned. I did what I did because I knew I couldn't save him. I see now that Sam's only chance is Dean and Dean's best chance to save him is with your help._

_I love you and I always have. I know that to you it didn't seem that way, but it's the truth. Take care of yourself and the boys for me._

_Love,_

_Dad_

Katie didn't realize she was crying until a tear landed on the paper she was holding. She looked up when she felt someone watching her and saw Dean standing in the doorway holding a wheelchair. He left the chair by the door, walked toward her, and then sat down next to her on the bed. Katie wiped away her tears and then read the letter again, so that she would always remember it.

When she was done, she handed the letter to Dean. She watched him while he folded the paper back up with out reading it and stuck it into a book in her bag.

"You aren't gonna read it?" Katie asked.

Dean just shook his head. The two of them sat there in silence until Sam and Racheal came looking for them.

"Do you two plan on sitting there all day?" Racheal asked.

"Nope." Dean said as he tossed Katie's duffel to Sam, "Just thinking for a sec."

Dean stood up and then picked Katie up off the bed. She was expecting him to set her into the wheelchair, but instead he walked right out the door with her. Sam and Racheal followed. Katie must have fallen asleep during the trip through and out of the hospital because the next thing she knew, Dean was setting her down in the back of Racheal's Camero.

"Hey Racheal," Dean said, "You mind if I drive your car back and you ride with Bobby?"

"You crash it and you have to deal with your sister." Racheal replied as she tossed Dean the keys.

"I promise, no crashing." Dean said with a small smile.

Racheal shook her head and then climbed into her dad's truck. Sam pushed the passenger seat back into place and then climbed into the car. When Dean got in and started the engine, Katie spoke.

"What's going on?"

"There's something we gotta take care of tonight before we leave town." Dean replied.

"Oh." Katie said.

She didn't need to ask any more questions. They were gonna steal their father's body from the hospital morgue that night. Sam and Dean must have decided that they didn't want anyone else around.

They drove to the motel the boys had been staying at for the last three days. This time Sam picked Katie up out of the car and carried her into the room. He gently laid her on the bed farthest from the door and then went back outside to help Dean clean out the trunk of Racheal's car so that they could get their dad into it. Dean came in a few minutes later carrying a bunch of bags. He set them down by the door and then sat down next to Katie on the bed.

"You need anything?" He asked.  
"I'm good." Katie replied, "Has he said anything in the last few days?"

"No," Dean replied flatly, "hasn't slept either."

"Car cleaned out yet?"

"Sam should be bringing the last of it in any second."  
"Why don't you go disappear for an hour or so? Maybe I can get him to talk."

"He's liable to try and pick a fight with you."

"That's why I don't want you here. He needs to explode a bit and I'm a better target right now."

"Katie" Dean said tentatively.  
"It'll be ok. Just go." Katie said as she pushed on Dean's shoulder. "Try not to get into a fight. I'm in no condition to beat some one's ass for beating on you"

"One hour and I'll bring back some food." Dean said with a smile as he tossed a pillow from the other bed at Katie.

Sam walked in just in time to see the pillow land on Katie's face.

"Dean, what the hell?" Sam said in an aggravated tone.  
"Ah, he speaks." Dean said, "I should throw pillows at you more often."

"Just get the hell outta here you pain in the ass," Katie said as she tossed the pillow back at Dean, "and don't forget the food."

Dean caught the pillow and tossed it back onto the other bed as he walked out the door. Sam let out a sigh and then went over to the table by the window. He dropped into a chair and began to bury himself in the paperwork that covered the table. Katie recognized it as John's research from their yearlong demon hunt.

"Hey Sam." Katie said.

"Yeah" Sam replied without looking up from the papers.

"You're gonna give yourself a headache trying to figure that out." Katie said, "John didn't right down everything. There's a lot of stuff he kept in his head."

"Well, maybe you can help me." Sam said.

"Sam, take a break for a bit." Katie said, "You look like you haven't slept in days."

"Just because you spent the last year with dad, doesn't give you the right to start giving me orders." Sam snapped as he got up and began to pace the room.

"It wasn't an order." Katie said, "It was a small request from your injured sister."

"Well, isn't that convenient." Sam said.

"What is?"

"You playing the sister card like you've been a part of my family all my life." Sam yelled, "I've known you for about five minutes, so just leave me alone."  
"Sam, I'm not gonna fight with you." Katie said flatly, "Killing yourself over John's research and yelling at me isn't gonna bring him back."

Sam stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Katie. After what seemed like a lifetime, Sam walked over to Katie's bed and sat down on the spot Dean had left several minutes before.

"What happened to him?" Sam asked as a tear slid down his face.

"I wish I knew." Katie replied as she sat up gingerly and placed a hand on Sam's shoulder.

Sam leaned into Katie's touch, then he slid down a bit farther on the bed and laid his head on her stomach. Before she realized it, Sam wrapped both his arms around her waist and was sobbing with his face buried in her abdomen. Katie felt the muscles in her back protest against Sam's hold on her, but she left things as they were. She started rubbing the back of Sam's head and in a few minutes, he was fast asleep.

When Dean came back, exactly one hour after he'd left, Sam was still asleep on Katie's stomach and she was watching TV with the volume turned way down. She motioned for Dean to be quiet as soon as he walked in the door.

"_I take it things went well._" Dean said, using their telepathic connection.  
Katie nodded and then made herself as comfortable as she could. Dean handed her some pills and a glass of water, then he stretched out on the other bed. Katie took her meds and then drifted off to sleep.


	29. Chapter 29

_This chapter is pretty short. Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing._

_**Chapter 29**_

Katie felt some one slide their hands underneath her shoulders and knees. She knew she was being picked up again, but she didn't wanna open her eyes yet.

"She's awake." Dean said, but his voice wasn't as close as she suspected.

"How do you know?" Sam said, his voice coming from right next to her head.

"Because he does." Katie answered.

"How ya doing Katie?" Dean asked.

"A little sore, but ok." Katie answered, "What's going on?"

Katie looked back and forth between her brothers, as they both remained silent. Katie finally nodded as the answer hit her. They were going to take care of dad.

They boys went about their task in silence. The only thing Katie could do was stand, with the help of a pair of crutches, and watch. She didn't speak either. As the fire engulfed their father's body, Katie stood between and slightly behind her brothers. She suddenly had the feeling that she didn't really belong there. Her relationship with John had been rocky at the best of times and non-existent most of the time.

"Did he, did he say anything to you?" Sam asked Dean through his tears, "About anything?"

Katie looked at Dean and saw him tense up slightly before he answered.

"No, nothing."

When the sun rose, the three remaining Winchesters were still standing there, staring at the ashes that remained. The fire had burned out long ago, but none of them wanted to move. Katie was dead on her feet and her back was screaming at her for some relief, but she ignored it. Dean finally broke the silence a few minutes later.

"Sam, take Katie back to the car while I clean this up."

Sam nodded and then lifted Katie up. Her crutches fell to the ground, but Katie didn't say anything. She hated the damn things anyway. They were silent until they reached the car, then Sam spoke.

"Hey Katie."

"Yeah." Katie replied.

"Thank you, for yesterday." Sam said as he set her into the back seat.  
"No problem." Katie said, "Hey Sam."  
"Yeah." Sam replied as he got in the car and closed the door.

"You know things are gonna get bad with him, don't ya?" Katie asked.

"He'll be ok, eventually." Sam replied.

"No," Katie said with a shake of her head, "he won't."

Before Sam could say anything else, Katie's cell phone rang in her pocket.

"Hello." Katie said.

"Where are you?" A male voice asked.

"Who is this?" Katie asked, slightly annoyed.

"It's Kevin. Now where are you?" Kevin answered.

"Taking care of a family problem." Katie replied.

"Well there's another family problem that requires your immediate attention." Kevin snapped, "You need to come home, now."  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Katie said, her irritation growing by the second.

"Caleb's dead. So is Pastor Jim, Joshua, and god knows how many others." Kevin yelled, "Seems anyone who's ever been involved with John Winchester is getting wiped out."

"Josh too." Katie gasped out, "Crap."

"Come home now." Kevin demanded.

"I can't." Katie replied, "Just give me some time and I'll figure something out."

Katie closed her phone and ended the conversation before Kevin said something else that would really cause her to lose her temper.

"Something wrong?" Dean asked. During her conversation with Kevin, Katie had failed to notice her older brother return to the car.

"Not yet." Katie replied.

Sam and Dean both looked at her funny. Katie just shook her head and then leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. She didn't really wanna explain a situation she didn't have a full grasp of yet. She needed to make a few calls, but wanted it to wait until they got to Bobby's and had Racheal to help her out. The other hunters were going to blame John for what had happened to their friends and since he was dead, some of the others would pass the blame on to her brothers.

While Katie was thinking to herself and pretending to be asleep, Dean had started the car and headed back to the motel to pick up the stuff they had left there. Katie didn't actually notice they had stopped and Sam had gotten out of the car until Dean spoke.

"It's because of Caleb, isn't it?"

"What?" Katie asked. She forgot sometimes that she could never fool Dean, unless he wasn't paying close attention to her that is.

"The phone call you got. They want you back in Nevada." Dean said.

"That's what I was told, "Katie replied, "but I'm not going anywhere. I'm not gonna disappear on you two anymore."

"You promise?" Dean asked.

Something in his expression had Katie look at him with concern before she answered.

"I promise."

Dean nodded and then turned back around in the driver's seat. Katie felt the car shift as Sam closed the trunk. She settled back into the seat again and this time let herself fall asleep.


	30. Chapter 30

_Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. Hope you guys like this chapter._

_**Chapter 30**_

The trip to Bobby's took two days because Dean insisted on only driving a few hours at a time. He said he wasn't gonna take any chances with Katie's back. Katie kept telling him that she was ok, she just wanted to get to Bobby's, but Dean put his foot down and Sam backed him up.

It was still early morning when they arrived. Dean told Sam to get the bags and he'd get Katie. He lifted Katie up and then carried her off. Instead of taking her into the house, he went around to the back where the Impala was stashed.

"Oh, Dean." Katie gasped out when she first saw her brother's car.

"We can fix it." Dean said.

"Uh, we?" Katie questioned.

"Yeah," Dean said as he carried Katie over toward the back porch of Bobby's house and set her into an old recliner. "You are gonna lay right here and supervise until you're better, while I do the work."

"If you say so." Katie said.

Dean walked off the porch and headed straight for his car to get to work. Sam came out the back door, followed by Racheal and Bobby a few minutes later.

"What's going on?" Sam asked when he saw his sister.

"Dean's fixing the Impala." Katie replied.

"Why didn't he bring you in the house?" Racheal said.

"Something about me supervising." Katie replied. "Don't think we're gonna get the real reason out of him though."

"Hey Dean," Bobby called from the steps. "You want some help?"

"Nope, Katie and I got it covered." Dean called back.

Sam and Bobby headed back into the house while Racheal sat in another chair on the porch.

"Did you get a call from Kevin?" Racheal asked quietly.

"Yeah," Katie replied. "he was trying to order me to go to Carlin."  
"Me too. He tell you about Josh?"

"Yeah." Katie replied sadly. "Does Bobby have an idea on how many others we lost?"

"Jefferson and Steve Wandell are ok. There's three others that had some kind of contact with your dad that are dead. One of them being Kevin's mom." Racheal replied. "He's got feelers out everywhere for any others to contact him or the roadhouse."

"So," Katie said. "counting John and Elkins that's seven altogether."  
"What are you thinking?" Racheal asked.

"That the fall out from this is gonna land right on my brothers. You know how the other hunters can be. Since they can't take this out on John, they'll come after us." Katie replied. "We need to get everyone from Caleb's network together somehow."

"What about the roadhouse?" Racheal said. "I know you don't like the place, but it's right in the middle of everything. Hell it's right in the middle of the country."

"Ok, you make the calls." Katie said. "Tell everyone to meet at Ellen's in one week."

Racheal nodded and headed back into the house. A few minutes later, Sam came out carrying a plate of sandwiches and three beers. He set one of the beers and the sandwiches on a nearby table, handed a beer to Katie, and then took a drink of the third. He sat down in the chair Racheal had just vacated and then began to watch Dean.

"What's up Sam?" Katie asked before taking a drink of her own beer.

"Just hanging out." Sam replied.

"Ok, what is going on with you two?" Katie demanded. "You act like I'm gonna die on you or something."

"Just making sure," Sam said. "that you get better is all. We had Racheal link both of us to you, that way you heal up faster and we don't get wore out as bad."

"I never should've told you guys about that." Katie said with a shake of her head.

"It's also…"Sam began, but stopped himself.

"What Sam?'

"We, we let dad out of our sight for a few seconds and he… Well, we just don't want to lose you too."

"I'm not going anywhere Sam. I promise."

Katie locked eyes with Sam and he nodded. They spent the rest of the day watching Dean work on his baby. Occasionally Dean would take a break and sit on the porch with them, but he never spoke. Bobby made them all come inside for a silent dinner as it was starting to get dark.

The Winchesters ate quickly and darted off to the boys' room upstairs. Dean set Katie on the small loveseat in the room and then stretched out on one of the beds to watch some TV. Sam stretched out on the other bed and buried himself in a book he had grabbed on the way upstairs. When Bobby came up an hour later he found them all asleep.


	31. Chapter 31

_**Chapter 31**_

A week later Katie was moving around on her own a bit more and helping Dean with the Impala. Her back was still a little sore, but the rest of her healed completely. She had taken the cast off her ankle herself a few days after they arrived at Bobby's because she said the thing was just getting in her way.

Dean and Katie rarely spoke to each other while they worked. Racheal's latest trick had made their telepathic connection even stronger, but they didn't even use it most of the time. They would work on different parts of the car to stay out of each other's way and get it done faster. Katie still wasn't sure what the side effects with Sam would be because she mostly only saw him at night and even then not for very long. They had all picked up a nice routine the day after Katie cut off her cast.

Dean and Katie would wake up early in the morning, eat a quick breakfast and then head out to work on the car. Sam would get up about an hour later, eat, and then bury himself in their father's research. At around noon, Bobby or Racheal would bring lunch out to Dean and Katie and leave a plate on the desk next to Sam. Some days the three Winchesters were so involved in their tasks that the food would remain untouched until dinnertime. Sam also made an appearance outside at least once during the day, but not much was said.

After dinner, Dean would hit John's research and Sam would dive into Bobby's books to look up some things he thought might mean something. Katie would join Racheal in her room and help with the phone calls that needed to be made to get everyone to the roadhouse on the day they had set for their little get together. At ten, the boys, Bobby, and Racheal would go to bed while Katie went over John's notes. Sometimes she would fall asleep there and Dean or Sam would come and take her upstairs. Other times she wouldn't sleep at all and Dean would find her still reading and making her own notes when he got up in the morning, or he would find Sam asleep on the couch nearby because the youngest Winchester had come down to talk Katie about John.

One day, Katie was taking a little break and admiring the fact that the car was finally starting to look like a car again, when Sam made his daily appearance. Katie shook her head slightly and then climbed back in the engine compartment to finish setting the mounts for the new transmission. Sam's appearances outside seemed to aggravate Dean slightly because Sam always asked the same questions. Katie usually made herself unseen when he came out because it seemed to make it easier for Sam to ask his questions.

"How's the car coming along?" Sam asked.

"Slow." Dean answered.

"You need any help?"

"What? You under a hood? I'll pass." Dean replied.

"You need anything else then?" Sam asked.

Dean had climbed out from under the car and headed for the small table he had set up with all the tools on it. He let out a small sigh before he answered.  
"Stop it Sam."

"Stop what?" Sam asked in his innocent voice.

"Stop asking if I need anything." Dean replied. "Stop asking if I'm ok. I'm ok. Really, I promise"

It was the most words Dean had spoken to Sam, or anyone for that matter, since they'd been at Bobby's. Katie knew Sam would try to take advantage of that and press Dean to talk about their dad, so she stayed where she was.

"Alright. Dean, it's just that we've been at Bobby's for over a week now and you haven't brought up dad once." Sam said.

"You know what, you're right." Dean said. "Come here. I'm gonna lay my head gently on your shoulder. Maybe we can cry, hug, maybe even slow dance."

Katie smiled to herself at her older brother's statement, then she climbed out of the engine compartment, walked over to get a tool she needed and climbed right back into the car.

"Don't patronize me Dean" Sam said angrily. "Dad is dead. The colt's gone and it seems likely that the demon is behind all of this and you're acting like nothing happened..

"What do you want me to say?" Dean said.

"Say something alright. Hell, say anything." Sam yelled. "Aren't you angry? Don't you want revenge? But all you do is sit out here all day long, buried underneath this damn car."

"Revenge huh?" Dean said

"Yeah." Sam replied.

"Sounds good." Dean said. "You got any leads on where the demon is? Making heads or tails out of any of dad's research cause I sure ain't. But you know what, when we do finally find it…Oh, no wait. Like you said the colt's gone, but I'm sure you figured out another way to kill it. We got nothing Sam. Nothing ok. So the only thing I can do is I can work on the car."

"We got something alright." Sam said. "That's what I came out here to tell you."

Katie popped up out of the engine compartment again and climbed out to stand next to her brothers. She shot Sam a questioning look as he started to push buttons on a cell phone.

"It's one of dad's old phones." Sam continued. "It took me awhile, but I finally cracked his voice mail code. Listen to this."

Sam handed the phone to Dean. Katie watched Dean listen to the message and then he handed her the phone. Katie pushed the button that would replay the message.

"John this is Ellen, again. Look, don't be stubborn you know I can help you. Call me."

Katie handed the phone back to Sam as he spoke.

"That message is four months old."  
"Dad saved that chick's message for four months?" Dean asked.

"Yeah." Sam replied.

"Well who's Ellen?" Dean asked. "Any mention of her in dad's journal?"

Sam kept right on talking before Katie could answer.

"No, but I ran a trace on the phone number and I got an address."

"Ask Racheal if we can borrow her car." Dean said to Katie.

"She's not here." Katie replied. "She went on a hunt, remember?"

"So we'll ask Bobby if we can use one of his." Dean said.

The three of them ran into the house to look for Bobby and pack a few things. Thirty minutes later they were on the road headed for Nebraska.


	32. Chapter 32

_Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. Only 6 more chapters to go._

_**Chapter 32**_

Katie sat in the back of the mini van a little impressed with her luck. She and Racheal had come up with the story about a hunt so that they could get to the roadhouse, but Sam and Dean had refused to let Katie out of their sight. Now she was on her way there, but the boys were going too. Katie didn't want them anywhere near the place when the others arrived. She was afraid that there would end up being a fight and her brothers would be caught in the middle.

She tried several times to tell Sam and Dean the little she could remember about her summer at the roadhouse, but every time she opened her mouth to say something one of them had something else to say. The truth was all she really remembered was Ellen's daughter always being in the way. Katie, Laura, and Racheal had spent that summer doing their own training drills until Bobby had picked them up and took them on a hunt with him. That was also the summer the girls saw Sam for the first time in eleven years.

When they pulled up in front of the bar, the place looked completely deserted. Katie didn't even see Racheal's Camero, but it was probably parked in the back. Katie smiled as Dean parked the car and threw the keys onto the floor.

"This is humiliating." Dean said as he got out of the van.

"It's the only car Bobby had running." Sam replied as he closed the passenger door.

Katie slid across the seat as Sam opened the sliding door, but he stopped her from getting out.

"Stay here." Sam said.

"Uh, why?" Katie asked. Dean was still ranting about driving the mini van so he didn't notice what Sam and Katie were doing.

"We don't know anything about these people." Sam replied. "You're still not quite a hundred percent yet and if we get into trouble, we'll need a way out."

"Sam, I…"  
"Please. Just stay here."

Sam and Dean moved off to look around the building. Katie slid off the seat to sit in the doorway of the van. She couldn't really hear what they were saying, but she saw Sam toss a small case to Dean, who was now standing by the door.

"Hey guys," Katie called out, but Dean had the lock picked and they were inside before she could finish. "I have a key."

Just as the door closed, Racheal came around the side of the building. She walked over to the van and sat next to Katie in the doorway.

"So, I guess things did kinda turn out in our favor after all." Racheal said.

"Depends on whether or not I can get them out of here." Katie replied.

"So, how long do we wait?" Racheal asked with a smile.

"I think now is good." Katie answered.

The two girls got up and walked up to the front door. They walked inside just in time to see Jo punch Dean in the face. Both girls quickly stifled a giggle.

"Sam!" Dean called out. "Need some help in here."

Dean said a few more words that the girls couldn't hear as Sam walked out of the kitchen with his hands on his head.

"Sorry Dean." Sam replied. "I can't right now I'm a little tied up."

"Sam. Dean. Winchester."  
"Yeah." the boys replied together.

"Son of a bitch." Ellen said.

"Mom, you know these guys?" Jo asked.

"Yeah, I think these are John Winchester's boys." Ellen let out a laugh as she lowered her gun. "Hey, I'm Ellen. This is my daughter Jo."

"Hey." Jo said after she lowered her rifle.

"You're not gonna hit me again are ya?" Dean asked.

"She'd better not or I'll break her arm." Katie said as she sat down at one of the tables.

"And you would be?" Ellen asked as she fingered her gun.

"Ellen, it's me. Grace." Katie replied.

"Grace has red hair like her uncle." Ellen replied.

"Only because she dyed it mom." Jo said.

"So I take it that since you're here with them they know everything?" Ellen asked.

"Almost." Katie replied.

"Well it's about time your dad woke up." Ellen said with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess." Katie replied.

"Well, make yourselves comfortable." Ellen said. "Dean, sit tight and I'll get you some ice."

Sam sat at the table by Katie while Dean and Racheal sat on stools by the bar, but pulled them back toward the table so they would be closer to Sam and Katie.

"Here ya go." Ellen said as she handed a cloth full of ice to Dean.

"Thanks." Dean replied. "So you called our dad, said you could help. Help with what?"

"Well, the demon of course." Ellen replied. "I heard he was closing in on it."

"What, is there an article in Demon Hunter's Quarterly that I missed?" Dean asked. "I mean who are you? How do you know about all this?"

"Hey, I just run a saloon." Ellen replied. "But hunters have been known to drop by now and again. Including your dad a long time ago. John was like family once."

"Oh yeah. How come he's never mentioned you before.?" Dean asked.

"You'll have to ask him that." Ellen replied.

"So why exactly do we need your help?" Dean asked.

"Hey, don't do me any favors." Ellen said. "Look if you don't want my help, fine. Don't let the door smack your ass on the way out, but John wouldn't have sent you here if…"

Katie watched as the realization hit Ellen that John hadn't sent them.

"He didn't send you."

Sam, Dean, and Katie looked at each other for a second. Then Dean looked at the door, while Sam and Katie looked at the floor.

"He's alright isn't he?" Ellen asked.

"No, no he isn't" Sam replied. "It was the demon we think. It um, just got him before he got it I guess"

"I'm so sorry." Ellen said as she focused on Dean.

"It's ok. We're alright." Dean said.

"Really. I know how close you and your dad were." Ellen added.

Katie started motioning with her hand for Ellen to cut it out before Dean said, "Really lady I'm fine."

"So look." Sam said. "If you can help. We can use all the help we can get."

Dean and Katie both gave Sam a slightly dirty look as he spoke. Neither of them wanted Ellen or anyone else involved in their problems. Enough people had already died because of their involvement with the Winchesters.

"Well, we can't." Ellen said as she looked at Jo for a second." But Ash will."

"Who's Ash?" Sam asked.

"Ash!" Ellen called out as she and Jo looked over at the guy sleeping on the pool table.

"What?" Ash called out. "It closing time?"

"That's Ash?" Sam said as he pointed to the pool tables behind him.

"Hmm mm" Jo replied. "He's a genius."

"Ash." Racheal called as they all walked toward the end of the bar. "Why is it every time I walk in here you're sleeping on that pool table?"

"Cause it's comfy." Ash replied.

Sam dropped the folder with their dad's research onto the bar as he sat down and slid it toward Ash. Katie sat down on Sam's right while Dean stood to Sam's left and Racheal stood behind Katie.

"Oh come on." Dean said. "You gotta be kidding me. This guy's no genius. He's a Lynyrd Skynyrd roadie."

"I like you." Ash said to Dean.

"Thanks." Dean replied.

"Just give him a chance." Jo said.

They all looked at each other for a second while Ash got a big grin on his face. Dean finally sat down and slid the folder closer to Ash.

"Alright." Dean said." This stuff's about a years worth of our dad's work. Let's see what you make of it."

Ash didn't take his eyes off Dean until he had the folder open and the papers out. As Ash started to look at the notes, he shook his head.

"Come on." Ash said. "This crap ain't real. Ain't nobody that can track a demon like this."  
"Our dad could." Sam said.

"No way." Ash replied. "Not even Grace Reynolds or my girlfriend here could do this."

"Take a closer look Ash." Racheal said.

"Some of the handwriting is ours." Katie finished.

Sam and Dean looked at the girls with weird looks on their faces.

"Dad had two broken arms." Katie said. "I'll explain later."

"These are non parametric statistical overviews." Ash said. "Cross-spectrum correlations. I mean, damn. There's signs, omens. If you can track them you can track this demon. You know like crop failures, electrical storms. You ever been struck by lightning? It ain't fun."

"Can you track it or not?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, with this I think so." Ash replied. "But it's gonna take time. Uh, give me….fifty-one hours."

Ash gathered up John's notes, got up from the bar, and headed for one of the back rooms.

"Oh uh," Dean said. "By the way man I uh, dig the haircut."

"All business up front," Ash said as he ran his hand through his hair. "Party in the back."


	33. Chapter 33

_This is the last chapter Sam and Dean are in for awhile. Had to clear a few things up with Katie. Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. I hope this chapter sits well with you guys. THanks to SciFiNutTX for playing beta. I really do loves that girl for putting up with me._

_**Chapter 33**_

The three Winchesters sat at the bar while Racheal headed back outside. She had been getting things ready for a BBQ they were gonna have tomorrow when the other hunters arrived for the little meeting. Katie saw Sam turn his head the way he usually did when he was trying to figure something out and Dean was checking out Jo.

"_Not that one_" Katie said to Dean. "_She's more trouble than she's worth._"

Dean ignored Katie's message and spun around to go talk to Jo.

"Hey Ellen," Sam asked pointing to something behind the bar. "What is that?"

"It's a police scanner." Ellen replied. "We like to keep tabs on things around here."  
"No, no, no, no the um, the folder." Sam said.

"Uh, I was gonna give this to a friend of mine." Ellen said as she picked up the object in question and brought it over to Sam. "Take a look, if you want."

"Thanks." Sam said.

Katie leaned closer to Sam as he opened to folder to read its contents. A couple had been murdered in Wisconsin right in front of their little girl. The girl said that she invited the clown into the house and then it disappeared into thin air after killing her parents.

"Sounds like a spirit of some kind." Sam said.

"Could be." Katie agreed.

"You thinking of taking the job? "Ellen asked.

"I don't see why not. Sam said. "Dean come here, check this out."

Katie looked over her shoulder as Dean came toward them.

"Yeah." Dean said.

"A few murders not far from here that Ellen caught wind of." Sam said. "Looks to me like there might be a hunt."

"Yeah, so?" Dean said.

"So, I told her we'd check it out." Sam replied.

Sam and Dean headed for the chairs they had left their jackets on, grabbed them, and then headed for the door. They were about to walk out when Dean noticed Katie wasn't with them.

"You coming or what?" Dean asked as he turned back to his sister.

"Thought I'd hang out here." Katie replied. "Like Sam said earlier, I'm not a hundred percent yet. Last thing you need is to be worrying about me in the middle of a hunt."  
Dean walked back toward Katie. She could tell he wasn't gonna leave her behind easily.

"I'm not leaving you." Dean said when he got back over to Katie.

"I'll be fine." Katie said.

"_We don't know anything about these people._" Dean said in Katie's head.

"_I do._" Katie replied. "_Racheal, Laura, and I stayed here the first summer after dad dropped us at Caleb's_"  
"Why didn't you say so?" Dean said out loud.

"Cause you and Legs over there kept interrupting me every time I tried." Katie replied. "I'll be fine. Besides, Racheal's here and she's almost a bigger pain in the ass then you are. Now would you go already. I promise I'll be right here when you get back."

"You're not going hunting with Racheal." Dean said firmly.

"You're right. She finished that job yesterday and stopped here to visit on her way home." Katie said. "If you two don't call in a couple days, we'll come looking for ya."

Dean stood there for a minute longer and then headed for the door. He looked back at Katie one last time, before he shut it and left. Sam came back in a few minutes later carrying Katie's duffel bag.

"You sure you're gonna be alright?" Sam asked.

"I'm sure." Katie replied as she took the bag from Sam. "You should get going before he changes his mind about me staying or leaves you here."

Sam gave Katie's shoulder a quick squeeze and then went back out the door. A few minutes later, Katie heard the engine of the van squeal to life and then it squealed some more as the boys drove away from the roadhouse.

"Well, that's one way to get them out of here." Ellen said.

"You weren't saving that for a friend were you?" Katie asked as she turned to face the older woman.  
"Racheal dug it up as soon as you called and said you were coming." Ellen replied. "What did you mean earlier when you said they 'almost' knew everything?"

"Sam doesn't know about Kansas." Katie replied.

"Think maybe you should tell him?" Ellen asked. "Wait, Sam doesn't know, but Dean does?"

"No to your first question." Katie replied. "And yes to your second. Dean knew before John did. He's always been in contact."

"What do you mean 'no?'" Ellen asked.

"There are just some things that kid doesn't need to know." Katie replied. "Besides, I don't even know why Caleb told you."

"He was afraid you'd kill some one if they walked into your room while you and your sister were sleeping." Ellen said. "He was just trying to watch out for everyone like he always did."

"I'm gonna go help Racheal out back and then get cleaned up." Katie said.  
"The rest of Caleb's kids are gonna be here tonight." Ellen said. "They wanted to catch up with you and Racheal before the older hunters showed up."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Katie said as she walked out the door.

Katie found Racheal just as the last of the picnic tables went floating by and into its place.

"You're getting a lot better at the telekinetic thing." Katie said.

"I been practicing ever since the Michigan thing." Racheal replied.

"So what's left to do?" Katie asked.

"Nothing." Racheal replied.

"Good, because I am in serious need of a hair cut." Katie said as she ran her fingers through her shoulder length hair.

"I like it that length." Racheal said.

"Yeah well last thing I want is for some ugly to get a weird idea and start dragging me around by it." Katie said. "It's way more practical on a hunt to have short hair."

"It's your head." Racheal said. "You gonna dye it back to red too?"

"Nope."

"Ok. Let's head up to Ellen's house before the others show up." Racheal said. "There's something I need to tell you about your dad anyway."


	34. Chapter 34

_Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. Just 4 more chapters to go._

_**Chapter 34**_

"HE DID WHAT?!" Katie yelled.

Racheal had waited until after she finished cutting Katie's hair off to tell her about John.

"He made a deal with Yellow Eyes to save Dean." Racheal said.

"How could he do that? " Katie asked as she shook her head. "Did he even stop to think of how Dean would react when he found out?"

"I'll tell you now, the same thing I told you while you were playing coma girl." Racheal said. "For the first time in years the man was acting like a real father. He said he couldn't and wouldn't watch his children die. You know as well as I do that if Dean had died in that hospital, you and Sam probably wouldn't have been too far behind him."

Katie fingered the black rubber ring on the middle finger of her left hand. John had put it there a few months back and told her not to lose it. The thing had originally been a spare O-ring to a part they replaced on the truck, but Katie had never taken it off. She still had the silver butterfly ring John had given her for her twenty-first birthday, but for some reason the small black rubber ring seemed more important to her.

After a few minutes, something Racheal said struck Katie.

"What did you mean you told me while I was 'playing coma girl'?" Katie asked.

"After your brain surgery you slipped into a little coma of your own." Racheal replied. "The doctor's told John that it was medically induced, but according to your chart, they couldn't bring you out of it. I think they lied to him because they were afraid of how John and Sam would react to the truth. Only difference between you and Dean was that he was on a ventilator and you weren't"

"So how does that fit in with you 'telling' me anything?" Katie asked.

"You and Dean jumped your bodies and were running around the hospital." Racheal replied. "The only reason I know what happened to John is because you told me about it. You saw the whole thing go down Grace."

"You saw us?' Katie asked slightly flabbergasted.

"No, but I could hear you." Racheal replied. "Sam told me about Dean."

"Now I know why I've felt like I was forgetting something since I woke up in the hospital." Katie said.

"Are you gonna tell them?" Racheal asked.

"Not yet." Katie replied. "I think maybe they need to get used to him being gone before I tell them why he's gone."

Katie took a quick shower and then got dressed. She quickly got dressed into her black jeans, white tank top, denim over shirt, and black steel-toed boots. She actually felt more like herself than she had since she got out of the hospital with her new haircut. Racheal was sitting on the bed waiting for her when she walked out of the bathroom.

"You look like yourself again." Racheal said.

"I feel like myself again too." Katie replied.

The girls were just leaving Ellen's house to go back to the bar when Racheal's phone rang. She answered it and then quickly hung up.

"They're here." Racheal said.

"Let's get this over with." Katie said as she slipped on her leather jacket and headed out the door.

They were met with a pretty awesome sight as they got to the bar. The parking lot was filled with metallic black Chevy cars and trucks. Ten of them in all counting Racheal's Camero. All of them were in mint condition and none of them was built after 1983. Well, except for the ones Katie had rebuilt from scratch when she lived at Caleb's. The others she just had to do a little engine work and paint jobs on.

The girls walked into the bar and everyone stopped mid sentence and looked at them. Katie saw a lot of familiar faces and a few she didn't know. The ones she didn't know were probably partners some of the others had picked up. She pulled on Racheal's arm and then walked up to the bar and ordered a beer. She took a long drink of her beer, then turned around to face everyone.

"Jeez," Katie said. "Ya all act like you never seen us before or something."

"We've never seen you blond before." a guy called from the back of the bar..

"I have." Heaven replied as she walked up to Katie and Racheal. "How ya doing Grace?"

"Had a little accident a week or so back, but I'm alright?" Katie replied. "How you doing Hev?"

"Could be a little better," Heaven replied. "But ok otherwise."

Heaven reached out and pulled Katie into a big hug. Katie hugged Heaven back and then the two girls walked arm in arm to the pool tables with Racheal close behind them. The tension in the room lifted almost immediately after that and everyone went back to what they were doing when Katie and Racheal walked in. Katie could still feel a few people watching her, but she ignored them.

The three girls played pool for a couple hours, changing partners after every game. Caleb had taught everyone in the room to hustle pool so it made for some very interesting games. Katie was a little glad that things had gone smoothly thus far, but it was only a matter of time before some one brought up Caleb. She had just declared her last game when it happened, but not quite in the way she expected.

"So," Kevin said as he walked up to the table. "We heard you've been running with the Winchesters again."

Kevin said it loud enough that half the bar could hear him. The other half quieted down at the urging of those who'd heard the question. A hush fell over the bar again as everyone waited to hear Katie's answer.

"Yeah. So what?" Katie said.

"So what?" Kevin said as his anger rose. "Do you have any idea what's been going on the last month because of them? Six people are dead that we know of because of John Winchester and his little crusade."

"Seven." Katie said flatly.

"What did you say?" Kevin nearly yelled.

"I said there are seven dead." Katie replied loudly.

"Well that's just great. I got another question for ya Miss Grace. How many more are gonna die?" Kevin said. "How many of the older hunters are going to be killed just because they knew John Winchester?"

"You don't have to worry about that any more." Katie said. She was trying very hard not to lose her temper.

"And what makes you say that?" Kevin yelled.

"Because my dad is dead, alright." Katie yelled back. "John Winchester died in a hospital in Missouri almost two weeks ago to save the life of his oldest son. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Katie was out of breath when she was done yelling. She had nearly choked on the words because it was the first time she had actually said them out loud. She looked at the people around her. Most of them had a look of shock on their faces because of her revelation about her dad. Kevin seemed to be figuring out what to say next. He didn't appear to be angry anymore, but he was always hard to figure out.

"John Winchester was your father?" Kevin asked.

"Yes." Katie replied.

"Are you and your brothers continuing his last hunt?" Kevin asked.

"Not at the moment." Katie replied.

"But you plan to?"

"Eventually."

"Then we're going to have to stop you." Kevin said with a sneer.

That was the last straw. Katie couldn't take anymore of Kevin's mouth. She reached back and was going to knock him on his ass, but Racheal grabbed her arm.

"That's enough Kevin." Racheal said. "We all lost Caleb and the others. I know you're upset about your Mom, but taking it out on Grace isn't gonna make things better."

"I'm trying to protect everyone from her and her stubborn family." Kevin yelled. "If they continue their father's quest, more hunters are gonna die."

"You don't know what's gonna happen." Racheal said. "None of us do. Just drop it already."

A rather intense staring contest ensued. Katie could tell that Kevin was far from done, but he was also afraid of Racheal because of her powers. The stare down went on for several minutes, then Heaven walked in between them.

"That's enough, Kevin." Heaven said calmly. "Winchester's daughter or not, Grace is still one of us and you know as well as I do that demons are unpredictable."

"If you say so Heaven." Kevin said as he walked off. "But, this isn't over, by a long shot."

"I think it's time for us to leave." Katie said to Racheal."  
"I agree." Racheal said.

"You don't have to go you know." Heaven said.

"We gotta check in with Bobby and the boys anyway." Katie replied. "We'll see you in the morning."

Katie and Racheal walked out of the roadhouse and went back to Ellen's house. Katie was hoping that things would go a lot smoother with the other hunters tomorrow, but she doubted it would. She knew that somehow, things were gonna be a lot worse.


	35. Chapter 35

_Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. Special thanks goes out to my girl SciFi for being her._

_**Chapter 35**_

Katie woke up with a strange feeling. She couldn't get the idea out of her head that something was wrong with Dean, so she called him.

"Hello." Dean said as he answered his phone.

"Are you ok?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, sure." Dean replied flatly.

"What's wrong?" Katie asked.

"Just got into a little argument with Sam." Dean replied. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"It was about dad, wasn't it?" Katie asked

"How are you doing?" Dean asked, changing the subject.

"Things are good here." Katie replied.

"Then why were you so mad last night?" Dean asked.

"An old friend said something he shouldn't have. It's over now." Katie replied.

"You know this is getting a little strange." Dean said with a chuckle. "Picking up each other's emotions occasionally when we're in the same room is one thing, but we're a couple hundred miles apart."

"Yeah, I wonder what's gonna happen next." Katie said lightly.  
"Any side effects pop up with Sam yet?" Dean asked.

"Not yet, but I haven't spent that much time around him. It started out pretty small with us though after St. Louis, so who knows." Katie replied.  
"Yeah. Sam's coming back so I gotta go. Hopefully we'll see you in a day or two."  
"Tell Sam I said hi."

Katie hung up her phone and then got out of bed. Racheal wasn't in the room anymore, but Katie wasn't worried. Her friend was probably helping Ellen finish getting ready for this afternoon. Katie got dressed quickly and then was about to head out of her room when some one knocked on the door. She opened it to find Heaven standing in the hall.

"What's going on Hev?" Katie asked.

Heaven walked past Katie and sat down on Racheal's bed before asking a question of her own.

"What happened to my dad?"

"I don't really know." Katie replied. "I didn't see what happened."  
"Max and Jade said they found him in the basement of one of the safe houses after you called me." Racheal said. "How did you know before anyone else did?"

"The demon that did it called Sam's cell." Katie replied as she sat next to Heaven. "She was after a gun that we had recently acquired."

"Elkins' colt."

"Yeah. We got it from the vampires that killed him."

"Was it worth it?" Heaven asked after a long pause. "Was John's revenge worth all the people we lost?"

"No." Katie replied. "It wasn't."

Heaven nodded and then left the room. Katie stared at the door for a few minutes and then followed her friend out of the house. She was gonna walk down to the roadhouse, but Katie decided to see if the old training course behind Ellen's house was still set up. As Katie walked around the house, she found several of her black Chevys parked on the side. When she got to the back, she found several of her friends running the course.

Katie stood and watched them for a few minutes. Doing so reminded her of old times back at Caleb's. She hadn't been back there since Laura died and she never realized how much she missed it until that moment. Caleb had been more of a father to her than anyone and he was dead because of John. Add all the others that were dead because of the demon as well as John himself and the fellings of loss suddenly became too much for her to bear.

Katie ran back into the house, up to the room she shared with Racheal, and locked the door. She threw herself onto the bed and buried her head under a pillow. She didn't cry, even though she really wanted too. She just lay there and listened to her heart beating in her chest. Several people came and knocked on the door, but she refused to answer.

She lay there for several hours thinking that John was right. All she wanted to do was disappear and pretend none of it ever happened. She was determined to do exactly that until her phone rang. She had her phone set to play different ringtones when certain people called her and the one playing now said that Sam was calling. She took the phone out of her pocket and stared at it for a second before she answered.

"Hello."

"Hey." Sam said. "Just calling to see how you're doing?"

"Ok, I guess." Katie lied.

"Are you sure? You sound kinda funny." Sam said.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Katie replied. "Just thinking about stuff."  
"You wanna talk?" Sam asked.

"Nope. Aren't you supposed to be on a hunt right now?"

"We're catching up on some sleep before we go kill the evil creature."  
"So why aren't you sleeping?" Katie asked.

"I just woke up and thought I'd call my sister." Sam replied.

Katie smiled at Sam's last statement. The more he called her "his" sister the better she felt. It almost made her wish she had told him when they were at Stanford together, almost.

"You still there?" Sam said.  
"Yeah, I'm here." Katie replied.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Sam asked his voice full of concern.

"I am now." Katie replied. "Go back to sleep."

"What if I'm not sleepy?" Sam said as he yawned.

"But you are sleepy." Katie replied with a laugh. "Trust me. Big sisters know these things."

"Ok." Sam said as he yawned again. "I think we'll have this wrapped up tonight so we should see you tomorrow."

"I'll see you when you get here. Sweet dreams, Sam."

Katie smiled as she hung up her phone. She looked over at the clock on the table and swore to herself. She was supposed to have been at the roadhouse an hour ago. They were probably already having their little discussion about her brothers.

Katie got up and quickly ran out of the house. She hoped that they would still be eating lunch by the time she got there, but she very highly doubted it. She ran as fast as she could to the roadhouse. It was a good thing Ellen's house was only about a half mile from the bar.

Katie stopped running and walked slowly around the back of the building. She wanted a chance to catch her breath before she faced everyone. She heard a rather heated discussion going on as she walked around the building.

"John's motives aside. He did the job just like the rest of us. We backed him up when he asked us, why shouldn't we do the same for his sons?" A man said.

Katie recognized that voice. Steve Wandell thought a great deal of her and would back up Katie no matter what. Might have something to do with the fact that Katie had saved his life on more than one occasion.

"Why should we back them up at all? We know nothing about them." another male voice asked.

"What do you want to know?" Katie called out as she walked away from the building so everyone could see her.

"How would you know anything about John Winchester's boys?" Harrison, the guy who asked the last question said. "You've been out of the loop for quite awhile Grace."

"I haven't been as far out of things as you think Harrison." Katie replied. "As for Sam and Dean, they're my brothers so I think I know quite a bit."

"What do you mean they're your brothers?" Adam Micheals called out.

"Did I stutter?" Katie snapped. "Now back my previous question: What do you guys wanna know about Sam and Dean?"

"Do they plan on picking up where John left off?" Harrison asked.

"Not at the moment." Katie replied. "We have a few other issues we need to deal with."

"So you're getting in on this too?" Adam asked.

"I've been involved since my mother was killed." Katie replied. "Look. I know what you're all afraid of and you have every right to be. My father has, had a very bad reputation of getting other hunters killed. I also can't promise that the same thing won't start happening once my brothers and I do start after the demon again. All I'm asking is that you leave us alone and stay out of the way. We don't want anyone else to get hurt."  
"The only way no one else is gonna get hurt is if you and your brothers don't follow in your father's footsteps." some one called out that Katie couldn't see.

"So they're supposed to let the people who don't have a clue die instead?" Racheal asked in response.

"This has nothing to do with you Singer." Harrison said.

"This is not solving anything." Steve said. "None of us know what is or isn't going to happen. You all know the risks that come with doing this job. I think we should take a step back from all of this and do what we do best, kill the bad things."

"Some might say that includes the Winchester boys." Kevin yelled.

"If anyone of you comes near my brothers I swear to god you'll wish you'd never met me." Katie yelled. "I can't believe you're pinning all of this on us in the first place. I get that you blame my dad for what happened. Several people were killed by a demon just beacause they knew him, but that has nothing to do with me and my brothers at the moment."

"It does if you plan to finish his hunt." Kevin yelled.

"Stop it." Steve said. "Just to solve this problem here and now, the Winchesters are under my protection."

The backyard suddenly grew very silent. Everyone present had worked with Steve Wandell and all but three of the hunters present owed him their lives. Katie couldn't believe what he had just done for her and her brothers. As long as Steve was alive, none of them would come after her family.


	36. Chapter 36

_Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. I had to add a little more whumpage on my OFC just cause I'm me. Like Sera and Kripke have quoted from some other author I can't remember "Invent characters you love and then torture the hell out of them." Only two chapters left. I promise it won't be the end of the series though. I already have a 5th one started and a 6th in my head. Special thanks to one of my two favorite people, she already knows who she is. :)_

_**Chapter36**_

The roadhouse cleared out pretty fast after Steve made his little announcement. They all just assumed that the discussion was over and a few were afraid of what Katie would do if they had kept pushing the issue. They remembered how she was with the girl they knew as Daisy. A few stayed behind to visit with Ellen and they were curious as to what the Winchester boys actually looked like.

Katie helped Ellen, Jo, and Racheal clean up the mess from the meeting. The work went pretty fast and soon Katie and Racheal were headed back to Ellen's house. Ellen had wanted them to stay at the roadhouse for a while, but the training course was still calling Katie. She wanted to see how much she could actually do after a couple surgeries and a near paralytic back injury.

They girls changed into clothes more suited for a work out and then went into Ellen's backyard.

"I don't think this is a very good idea." Racheal said.

"I know you don't." Katie replied. "But I gotta know how much longer I'm gonna be out. Letting them go on a simple creature hunt without me was bad enough. If they decide to go on anymore hunting trips before the Impala's fixed I'm not letting them go without me."  
"Your brothers are so gonna kill me for letting you do this." Racheal mumbled.

"It's not like I'm gonna go all out." Katie said. "I just wanna see how far I can get. I'm not even gonna run if I can get away with it."

"You always say that." Racheal said.

Katie gave her friend a quick smile and then took off. She made it almost half way through the course before her back and ankle started to hurt. She was three quarters of the way through it when she fell. She tried to turn herself so that she wouldn't land on her back so all her weight came down on her right hand. She felt something snap as she hit the ground. Racheal was beside her a few seconds later.

"Are you alright?" Racheal gasped out.

"Just a little broken wrist." Katie replied as she stood up.

"Oh great. Now Sam and Dean really are gonna kill me." Racheal said in an exasperated tone."Not to mention my dad."

"Could be worse."

"How?" Racheal asked in an exasperated tone.

"I could've broken my neck." Katie said with a smile.

"Oh, I am so gonna smack you." Racheal said with a small laugh. "Let's go get that wrist taken care of."

The two girls walked back into the house. On their way upstairs, Katie set her wrist. When they got into their room, Racheal wrapped it up and they spent the rest of the day watching TV.

Katie was just about to fall asleep when her phone rang. Racheal grabbed it off the table between their beds before Katie could even register that the phone was ringing.

"Hello." Racheal said.

"She's right here. I think the meds I slipped her made her sleepy."

"Because she did something stupid and broke her wrist."

"It's not my fault she won't listen to me because I'm not you."

"Yell at her not me."

Racheal tossed the phone at Katie and she caught it with her left hand. She stuck her tongue out at Racheal before holding the phone to her ear. Dean apparently didn't realize that Racheal had given Katie the phone because he was still yelling.

"What are you yelling for?" Katie asked innocently when he stopped to take a breath.

"How did you break your wrist?" Dean asked. Katie could tell by his voice that he was trying to calm down.

"Just a little training exercise." Katie replied. "Nothing major."

"Anything else broken?" Dean asked.

"Nope." Katie replied.

"Good, cause I am so gonna kill you when we get back in the morning."

"No you're not." Katie said sweetly. "And be nice to Racheal. It's not her fault I fell off a balance beam at the end of the obstacle course."

"Here, talk to Sam." Dean said.

Katie smiled to herself slightly. Dean was trying really hard not to yell at her and Katie thought it was just a little funny.

"Are you alright?' Sam asked.

"I'm fine Sam." Katie replied. "Just a little broken wrist. How'd the hunt go?"  
"All done." Sam replied. "We're on our way back now."

"Ok. I'll see you when you get here." Katie said.

"Hey Katie." Sam said before she could hang up the phone.  
"Yeah." Katie replied.

"Try to behave yourself until then." Sam said sternly.

"Now you just have to go and ruin all my fun don't you?" Katie said with a laugh.

"That's what little brothers are for." Sam replied with a laugh of his own.

Katie hung up the phone and then crawled under the covers of her bed. She looked at Racheal, smiled, and then rolled over and went to sleep.


	37. Chapter 37

_Just one more chapter after this one. Thanks to everyone reading and reviewing. I'm already 4 chapters into the next story and I think I may just get killed for what I do to poor Sammy._

_**Chapter 37**_

Katie woke up in the early afternoon. She rolled over to find Dean sitting on Racheal's bed staring at her.

"What's up?" Katie asked.

"Let me see your wrist." Dean said.

"I missed you to." Katie said as she held up her right hand. "Where's Sam?"

"He's in the car." Dean replied as he took the wrap off Katie's wrist.

"And why is he in the car?" Katie asked.

"Cause I told him that I didn't want him to see me kill you." Dean replied with a smile.

"What did he say?"

"That he was more worried about me than you." Dean laughed.

"Awe, picking up on a few things is he?' Katie said.

"Nope." Dean replied as he began to rewrap Katie's wrist. "He's been listening to some other hunters talk about you all morning."

"Why didn't you come get me when you got back?" Katie asked. She was more than a little worried about what Sam had heard.

"Because it was the most you've slept since you woke up in the hospital." Dean replied. "You needed the rest."

"Did not." Katie protested as she rubbed her eyes.

"Yeah, when was the last time you slept more than four hours at a time?" Dean asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Uh, over a year ago." Katie replied sheepishly.

"That's what I thought." Dean replied as he pulled the blankets off Katie.

It's a good thing she was wearing shorts and a black spaghetti strap tank top to bed instead of a nightgown. She was about to sit up and get out of bed when she caught Dean's weird expression.

"What's wrong?" Katie asked.

"That's new." Dean said as he pointed to Katie's left shoulder.

"What is?" Katie asked as she followed Dean's gaze to her Devil's trap tattoo. "Oh that. Dad did that himself."

"You let Dad near you long enough to put a tattoo on you." Dean replied in awe. "I didn't even know he knew how to do tats."

"He didn't always hustle for money." Katie said. "He picked up a few things from other hunters, but the tattoo thing he learned from Laura. I just wish he would've let me do one on him, then maybe…."

"Yeah, let's get back to the bar." Dean said. "Ellen wants to hear how the hunt went."

"I'll be down in a minute."

Katie watched Dean walk out of the room and then dressed quickly. She had her stuff packed and was outside a few minutes later. Dean was standing by Racheal's car with the passenger door open and the seat pulled forward. Sam was in the back seat on the driver's side behind Racheal. Katie tossed her bag to Dean and then climbed into the backseat next to Sam.

"Hey, you cut your hair." Sam said.

"Yeah. I never did like it long." Katie replied.

"Now she makes you look even more like a girl." Dean said with a laugh as he got into the car.

"Bite me." Sam said.

"When and where?" Katie asked. Her tone was completely serious, but she had a big smile on her face.

"That's just gross." Racheal said with a shake of her head.

"Well, he shouldn't say things like that unless he really means it." Katie laughed.

"You three are gonna drive me nuts all the way home, aren't you?" Racheal sighed.

"Probably." the three Winchesters said together.

All four of them laughed as Racheal started the car and headed for the roadhouse. There were only a few vehicles parked outside as they pulled up to the roadhouse. As they walked in and sat at the bar, the other hunters that had hung around from the day before stopped and stared for a second before going back to their conversations and weapon cleaning.

"What happened to your hand?" Ellen asked as Katie and the others sat down.

"Just a little fall." Katie replied. "Nothing major."

"You boys ready to tell me bout your creature hunt?" Ellen asked.

"Sure." Sam replied.

Katie sat and listened while her brothers described the Raksasha hunt. Katie couldn't help but be impressed with what Sam had come up with to kill the thing. Her little brother could definitely think on his feet.

"You boys did a helluva job." Ellen said as she sat two beers in front of Sam and Dean. "You're dad'd be proud."

"Thanks." Sam replied.

Jo walked up to stand by Dean and gave Sam, Katie, and Racheal a "go away" look. Racheal got up from the bar and headed for the pool tables. Katie shook her head and gave Jo a nasty look of her own. Dean looked over at Sam and Sam started to act all funny.

"Oh yeah." Sam stumbled. "Yeah, um I've, I've gotta um, go. Over there."

Sam got up and went to join Racheal over by the pool tables. Dean looked at Katie, but she refused to move.

"_Go._" Dean said to Katie.

"_Remember what I said about her."_ Katie replied.

Katie finally got up from the bar and joined Sam and Racheal at the pool tables. The two were just starting a game.

"Take it easy on him Rache." Katie said. "The boy may be a genius, but he sucks at this game."

"How would you know?" Sam asked, his tone saying that he was a little insulted.

"I've seen you play." Katie laughed.

"Mind if I break?" Sam asked as he grabbed a pool cue. A few minutes later, the table was completely cleared.

"Damn." Racheal exclaimed.

"And you never did that at school why?" Katie asked.

"Cause it's not nice to hustle your friends." Sam said.

"I did it all the time." Katie said.

"I know." Sam said. "Which is why I never played against you."

Katie was about to say something else when Ash walked out of the kitchen holding his laptop.

"Where you guys been?" Ash asked. "I been waiting for ya."

"We were working a job Ash." Sam replied. "Clowns."

"Clowns?' Ash said." What the…"  
"You got something for us Ash?" Dean interrupted.

Ash walked up to the bar and set his computer down by Dean and Jo. Katie, Sam and Racheal walked up and sat down around Ash.

"Did you find the demon?" Sam asked.

"It's nowhere around." Ash replied. "At least nowhere I can find, but if this fugly bastard raises its head. I'll know. I mean I'm on it like divine on dog dookie."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"I mean," Ash said as he turned his laptop to face Sam. "Any of those signs or omens appear, anywhere in the world, and my rig will go off like a fire alarm."

"You mind if I.." Dean said as he started to place his hands on Ash's keyboard, but the look on Ash's face made him stop. "Yeah."

"Yeah, what's up man?" Ash said.

"Ash," Sam said, clearly impressed. "Where did you learn to do all this?"

"M.I.T." Ash replied. "Before I got bounced for fighting."

"M.I.T." Sam said.

"It's a school in Boston." Ash said matter of factly.

"Ok." Dean said. "Give us a call as soon as you know something?"

"Si, si, compadre." Ash replied.

The four young hunters stood up from their seats and headed for the door. Katie caught Ellen's concerned look just as Racheal walked outside.

"Hey, listen." Ellen said. "Um, if you guys need a place to stay I got a couple beds out back."

"Thanks, but no." Dean said. "There's something Katie and I gotta finish."

"Ok." Ellen said.

The Winchesters followed Racheal out the door after that and climbed into her car.


	38. Chapter 38

_Well here it is. I finally finished it. I owe everyone a huge thanks for being so patient with me. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this story. A great big huge thanks goes out to SciFiNutTX for playing beta. LOVES YOU GIRL!!_

_**Chapter 38**_

They got back to Bobby's late that night and all of them went straight to bed. The next morning Dean went out to work on the car. Katie didn't go with him because Bobby picked up a couple laptops while they were gone and she wanted to set hers up. Sam was doing the same.

Katie was digging through her stuff trying to find some of her program disks that had survived the crash when she heard the back door slam closed. When she looked up to where Sam was sitting, he was no longer there. Katie shrugged her shoulders and went back to what she was doing. A few minutes later, Sam came back in and sat down in front of his computer. She was about to ask Sam if he was ok when she caught a whirlwind of emotions from Dean. A few seconds later, she heard the sound of shattering glass come from outside.

"Stay here." Katie said to Sam as she got up and hurried for the door.

"If he's hurt.." Sam started to say.

"He's not, physically any way." Katie called over her shoulder just before the screen slammed closed.

Katie stood on the porch and watched Dean beat on the Impala with a crow bar. She wasn't quite sure what else to do but stand there until he was done. When the crowbar got stuck in the hole Dean made in the trunk lid, he let it fall to the ground. He started to pace for a second, but stopped when he saw Katie standing on the porch watching him. He stood there staring at her for a second and then collapsed to the ground.

Katie ran over to Dean, sat down next to him, and put a hand on his shoulder. She was a little surprised when Dean wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into a very tight hug. They sat there like that for quite awhile. Dean's emotions were all over the place, but Katie stayed quiet until she picked up a surge of anger from him that he almost immediately felt guilty for.

"It's ok to be mad at him for leaving." Katie said softly.

"That's not it." Dean replied.

"Then what?" Katie asked.

"It's nothing." Dean replied as he slid across the ground to sit with his back against the Impala.

Katie moved to sit next to her brother before she spoke again.

"He told you, didn't he?"

"About what?" Dean asked.

"_About Sam._" Katie replied telepathically.

"_What about Sam?_" Dean asked.

"_That we may have to kill him._" Katie replied.

Dean nodded. Katie was so furious she probably could've spit bullets.

"Damn him." Katie spat out.

"You weren't gonna tell me?" Dean asked.

"Not unless I actually had to do something." Katie replied. "_But what I do know of Sam, I don't think it's ever something we have to worry about_."

"You sure?" Dean asked as he looked at Katie for the first time.

"Of course." Katie replied with a smile. "It's Sam and he has us to keep him that way."

Dean smiled and nodded. They sat there in silence for a few more moments, then got back up to work on the car. Dean looked at the hole he'd made and shook his head.

"Why did you just stand there and let me do that?" Dean asked.

"Because you needed to." Katie replied.

"Well, now we need to get a new lid." Dean said.

"No, we don't." Katie said. "I can fix it. Just a little weld and sand job. Bobby's got the tools I need in the shop."

"Everything ok out here?" Sam called from just inside the back door.

"Everything's fine Sam." Katie replied. "Why don't you come help me get this off so I can fix it."

Sam walked down the steps and over to his brother and sister. He took one look at the trunk and his jaw dropped open.

"What happened?" Sam asked.

"Nothing." Dean replied.

"Just a little pent up aggression." Katie said. "I can fix it. You wanna help?"

"Yeah, sure." Sam replied.

Sam helped Katie take the trunk lid off and then carried it to Bobby's shop for her. Katie followed him and got the tools she needed while Sam set the lid up on an old engine stand. Sam stood there staring at the trunk lid for the Impala.

"What's wrong Sam?" Katie asked.

"Dean did this, didn't he?" Sam said, still staring at the hole.

"Just a little explosion." Katie replied. "It happens every couple of years or so."

"He's really isn't gonna be ok, is he?" Sam asked.

The look Sam gave Katie nearly tore her heart out. She wanted to tell her little brother that everything would be fine, but there was no use in lying to him. Sam was just now beginning to see how truly messed up their older brother was.

"No, he won't." Katie replied. "It's gonna get bad and he's probably gonna scare the crap out of you."

"You're not scared of how far he'll go?" Sam asked, truly curious.

"No." Katie replied flatly.  
"Why not?"

"Because I've done much worse." Katie answered.

Before Sam could ask another question, Katie started pounding out the whole Dean had made. The truth was, that she was a little scared of how far Dean would go because of what he had seen her do after Laura died. She just hoped Dean wouldn't follow in her footsteps.

_A/N The next story is called "Dreams of Her Past" I think I may have to up the rating on that one to M because I do something very not nice to Sam. I'll post the first chapter on friday and let you guys decide if that's what I need to do or not. Thanks again to everyone._

_KIM_


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